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Sample records for auditory color constancy

  1. Auditory color constancy: calibration to reliable spectral properties across nonspeech context and targets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stilp, Christian E; Alexander, Joshua M; Kiefte, Michael; Kluender, Keith R

    2010-02-01

    Brief experience with reliable spectral characteristics of a listening context can markedly alter perception of subsequent speech sounds, and parallels have been drawn between auditory compensation for listening context and visual color constancy. In order to better evaluate such an analogy, the generality of acoustic context effects for sounds with spectral-temporal compositions distinct from speech was investigated. Listeners identified nonspeech sounds-extensively edited samples produced by a French horn and a tenor saxophone-following either resynthesized speech or a short passage of music. Preceding contexts were "colored" by spectral envelope difference filters, which were created to emphasize differences between French horn and saxophone spectra. Listeners were more likely to report hearing a saxophone when the stimulus followed a context filtered to emphasize spectral characteristics of the French horn, and vice versa. Despite clear changes in apparent acoustic source, the auditory system calibrated to relatively predictable spectral characteristics of filtered context, differentially affecting perception of subsequent target nonspeech sounds. This calibration to listening context and relative indifference to acoustic sources operates much like visual color constancy, for which reliable properties of the spectrum of illumination are factored out of perception of color.

  2. Color Constancy by Deep Learning

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lou, Z.; Gevers, T.; Hu, N.; Lucassen, M.P.; Xie, X.; Jones, M.W.; Tam, G.K.L.

    2015-01-01

    Computational color constancy aims to estimate the color of the light source. The performance of many vision tasks, such as object detection and scene understanding, may benefit from color constancy by estimating the correct object colors. Since traditional color constancy methods are based on

  3. Role of color memory in successive color constancy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ling, Yazhu; Hurlbert, Anya

    2008-06-01

    We investigate color constancy for real 2D paper samples using a successive matching paradigm in which the observer memorizes a reference surface color under neutral illumination and after a temporal interval selects a matching test surface under the same or different illumination. We find significant effects of the illumination, reference surface, and their interaction on the matching error. We characterize the matching error in the absence of illumination change as the "pure color memory shift" and introduce a new index for successive color constancy that compares this shift against the matching error under changing illumination. The index also incorporates the vector direction of the matching errors in chromaticity space, unlike the traditional constancy index. With this index, we find that color constancy is nearly perfect.

  4. A Color-Opponency Based Biological Model for Color Constancy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yongjie Li

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Color constancy is the ability of the human visual system to adaptively correct color-biased scenes under different illuminants. Most of the existing color constancy models are nonphysiologically plausible. Among the limited biological models, the great majority is Retinex and its variations, and only two or three models directly simulate the feature of color-opponency, but only of the very earliest stages of visual pathway, i.e., the single-opponent mechanisms involved at the levels of retinal ganglion cells and lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN neurons. Considering the extensive physiological evidences supporting that both the single-opponent cells in retina and LGN and the double-opponent neurons in primary visual cortex (V1 are the building blocks for color constancy, in this study we construct a color-opponency based color constancy model by simulating the opponent fashions of both the single-opponent and double-opponent cells in a forward manner. As for the spatial structure of the receptive fields (RF, both the classical RF (CRF center and the nonclassical RF (nCRF surround are taken into account for all the cells. The proposed model was tested on several typical image databases commonly used for performance evaluation of color constancy methods, and exciting results were achieved.

  5. Influence of Surrounding Colors in the Illuminant-Color Mode on Color Constancy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kazuho Fukuda

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available On color constancy, we showed that brighter surrounding colors had greater influence than dim colors (Uchikawa, Kitazawa, MacLeod, Fukuda, 2010 APCV. Increasing luminance of a stimulus causes the change in appearance from the surface-color to the illuminant-color mode. However it is unknown whether the visual system considers such color appearance mode of surrounding colors to achieve color constancy. We investigated the influence of surrounding colors that appeared illuminant on color constancy. The stimulus was composed of a central test stimulus and surrounding six colors: bright and dim red, green and blue. The observers adjusted the chromaticity of the test stimulus to be appeared as an achromatic surface. The luminance balance of three bright surrounding colors was equalized with that of the optimal colors in three illuminant conditions, then, the luminance of one of the three bright colors was varied in the range beyond the critical luminance of color appearance mode transition. The results showed that increasing luminance of a bright surrounding color shifted the observers' achromatic setting toward its chromaticity, but this effect diminished for the surrounding color in the illuminant-color mode. These results suggest that the visual system considers color appearance mode of surrounding colors to accomplish color constancy.

  6. Spectral Sharpening of Color Sensors: Diagonal Color Constancy and Beyond

    OpenAIRE

    Vazquez-Corral, Javier; Bertalmío, Marcelo

    2014-01-01

    It has now been 20 years since the seminal work by Finlayson et al. on the use/nof spectral sharpening of sensors to achieve diagonal color constancy. Spectral sharpening is/nstill used today by numerous researchers for different goals unrelated to the original goal/nof diagonal color constancy e.g., multispectral processing, shadow removal, location of/nunique hues. This paper reviews the idea of spectral sharpening through the lens of what/nis known today in color constancy, describes the d...

  7. Dichromatic Gray Pixel for Camera-agnostic Color Constancy

    OpenAIRE

    Qian, Yanlin; Chen, Ke; Nikkanen, Jarno; Kämäräinen, Joni-Kristian; Matas, Jiri

    2018-01-01

    We propose a novel statistical color constancy method, especially suitable for the Camera-agnostic Color Constancy, i.e. the scenario where nothing is known a priori about the capturing devices. The method, called Dichromatic Gray Pixel, or DGP, relies on a novel gray pixel detection algorithm derived using the Dichromatic Reflection Model. DGP is suitable for camera-agnostic color constancy since varying devices are set to make achromatic pixels look gray under standard neutral illumination....

  8. Surface color perception under two illuminants: the second illuminant reduces color constancy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Joong Nam; Shevell, Steven K.

    2003-01-01

    This study investigates color perception in a scene with two different illuminants. The two illuminants, in opposite corners, simultaneously shine on a (simulated) scene with an opaque dividing wall, which controls how much of the scene is illuminated by each source. In the first experiment, the height of the dividing wall was varied. This changed the amount of each illuminant reaching objects on the opposite side of the wall. Results showed that the degree of color constancy decreased when a region on one side of the wall had cues to both illuminants, suggesting that cues from the second illuminant are detrimental to color constancy. In a later experiment, color constancy was found to improve when the specular highlight cues from the second illuminant were altered to be consistent with the first illuminant. This corroborates the influence of specular highlights in surface color perception, and suggests that the reduced color constancy in the first experiment is due to the inconsistent, though physically correct, cues from the two illuminants.

  9. The nature of instructional effects in color constancy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Radonjić, Ana; Brainard, David H

    2016-06-01

    The instructions subjects receive can have a large effect on experimentally measured color constancy, but the nature of these effects and how their existence should inform our understanding of color perception remains unclear. We used a factorial design to measure how instructional effects on constancy vary with experimental task and stimulus set. In each of 2 experiments, we employed both a classic adjustment-based asymmetric matching task and a novel color selection task. Four groups of naive subjects were instructed to make adjustments/selections based on (a) color (neutral instructions); (b) the light reaching the eye (physical spectrum instructions); (c) the actual surface reflectance of an object (objective reflectance instructions); or (d) the apparent surface reflectance of an object (apparent reflectance instructions). Across the 2 experiments we varied the naturalness of the stimuli. We find clear interactions between instructions, task, and stimuli. With simplified stimuli (Experiment 1), instructional effects were large and the data revealed 2 instruction-dependent patterns. In 1 (neutral and physical spectrum instructions) constancy was low, intersubject variability was also low, and adjustment-based and selection-based constancy were in agreement. In the other (reflectance instructions) constancy was high, intersubject variability was large, adjustment-based constancy deviated from selection-based constancy and for some subjects selection-based constancy increased across sessions. Similar patterns held for naturalistic stimuli (Experiment 2), although instructional effects were smaller. We interpret these 2 patterns as signatures of distinct task strategies-1 is perceptual, with judgments based primarily on the perceptual representation of color; the other involves explicit instruction-driven reasoning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  10. Individual differences in simultaneous color constancy are related to working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Elizabeth C; Beilock, Sian L; Shevell, Steven K

    2012-02-01

    Few studies have investigated the possible role of higher-level cognitive mechanisms in color constancy. Following up on previous work with successive color constancy [J. Exper. Psychol. Learn. Mem. Cogn. 37, 1014 (2011)], the current study examined the relation between simultaneous color constancy and working memory-the ability to maintain a desired representation while suppressing irrelevant information. Higher working memory was associated with poorer simultaneous color constancy of a chromatically complex stimulus. Ways in which the executive attention mechanism of working memory may account for this are discussed. This finding supports a role for higher-level cognitive mechanisms in color constancy and is the first to demonstrate a relation between simultaneous color constancy and a complex cognitive ability. © 2012 Optical Society of America

  11. Color constancy by characterization of illumination chromaticity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nikkanen, Jarno T.

    2011-05-01

    Computational color constancy algorithms play a key role in achieving desired color reproduction in digital cameras. Failure to estimate illumination chromaticity correctly will result in invalid overall colour cast in the image that will be easily detected by human observers. A new algorithm is presented for computational color constancy. Low computational complexity and low memory requirement make the algorithm suitable for resource-limited camera devices, such as consumer digital cameras and camera phones. Operation of the algorithm relies on characterization of the range of possible illumination chromaticities in terms of camera sensor response. The fact that only illumination chromaticity is characterized instead of the full color gamut, for example, increases robustness against variations in sensor characteristics and against failure of diagonal model of illumination change. Multiple databases are used in order to demonstrate the good performance of the algorithm in comparison to the state-of-the-art color constancy algorithms.

  12. Possible influences on color constancy by motion of color targets and by attention-controlled gaze.

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    Wan, Lifang; Shinomori, Keizo

    2018-04-01

    We investigated the influence of motion on color constancy using a chromatic stimulus presented in various conditions (static, motion, and rotation). Attention to the stimulus and background was also controlled in different gaze modes, constant fixation of the stimulus, and random viewing of the stimulus. Color constancy was examined in six young observers using a haploscopic view of a computer monitor. The target and background were illuminated in simulation by red, green, blue, and yellow, shifted from daylight (D65) by specific color differences along L - M or S - (L + M) axes on the equiluminance plane. The standard pattern (under D65) and test pattern (under the color illuminant) of a 5-deg square were presented side by side, consisting of 1.2-deg square targets with one of 12 colors at each center, surrounded by 230 background ellipses consisting of eight other colors. The central color targets in both patterns flipped between top and bottom locations at the rate of 3 deg/s in the motion condition. The results indicated an average reduction of color constancy over the 12 test colors by motion. The random viewing parameter indicated better color constancy by more attention to the background, although the difference was not significant. Color constancy of the four color illuminations was better to worse in green, red, yellow, and blue, respectively. The reduction of color constancy by motion could be explained by less contribution of the illumination estimation effect on color constancy. In the motion with constant fixation condition, the retina strongly adapted to the mean chromaticity of the background. However, motion resulted in less attention to the color of the background, causing a weaker effect of the illumination estimation. Conversely, in the static state with a random viewing condition, more attention to the background colors caused a stronger illumination estimation effect, and color constancy was improved overall.

  13. Color constancy in Japanese animation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ichihara, Yasuyo G.

    2006-01-01

    In this study, we measure the colors used in a Japanese Animations. The result can be seen on CIE-xy color spaces. It clearly shows that the color system is not a natural appearance system but an imagined and artistic appearance system. Color constancy of human vision can tell the difference in skin and hair colors between under moonlight and day light. Human brain generates a match to the memorized color of an object from daylight viewing conditions to the color of the object in different viewing conditions. For example, Japanese people always perceive the color of the Rising Sun in the Japanese flag as red even in a different viewing condition such as under moonlight. Color images captured by a camera cannot present those human perceptions. However, Japanese colorists in Animation succeeded in painting the effects of color constancy not only under moonlight but also added the memory matching colors. They aim to create a greater impact on viewer's perceptions by using the effect of the memory matching colors. In this paper, we propose the Imagined Japanese Animation Color System. This system in art is currently a subject of research in Japan. Its importance is that it could also provide an explanation on how human brain perceives the same color under different viewing conditions.

  14. Color constancy in a scene with bright colors that do not have a fully natural surface appearance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fukuda, Kazuho; Uchikawa, Keiji

    2014-04-01

    Theoretical and experimental approaches have proposed that color constancy involves a correction related to some average of stimulation over the scene, and some of the studies showed that the average gives greater weight to surrounding bright colors. However, in a natural scene, high-luminance elements do not necessarily carry information about the scene illuminant when the luminance is too high for it to appear as a natural object color. The question is how a surrounding color's appearance mode influences its contribution to the degree of color constancy. Here the stimuli were simple geometric patterns, and the luminance of surrounding colors was tested over the range beyond the luminosity threshold. Observers performed perceptual achromatic setting on the test patch in order to measure the degree of color constancy and evaluated the surrounding bright colors' appearance mode. Broadly, our results support the assumption that the visual system counts only the colors in the object-color appearance for color constancy. However, detailed analysis indicated that surrounding colors without a fully natural object-color appearance had some sort of influence on color constancy. Consideration of this contribution of unnatural object color might be important for precise modeling of human color constancy.

  15. Color constancy in dermatoscopy with smartphone

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    Cugmas, Blaž; Pernuš, Franjo; Likar, Boštjan

    2017-12-01

    The recent spread of cheap dermatoscopes for smartphones can empower patients to acquire images of skin lesions on their own and send them to dermatologists. Since images are acquired by different smartphone cameras under unique illumination conditions, the variability in colors is expected. Therefore, the mobile dermatoscopic systems should be calibrated in order to ensure the color constancy in skin images. In this study, we have tested a dermatoscope DermLite DL1 basic, attached to Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone. Under the controlled conditions, jpeg images of standard color patches were acquired and a model between an unknown device-dependent RGB and a deviceindependent Lab color space has been built. Results showed that median and the best color error was 7.77 and 3.94, respectively. Results are in the range of a human eye detection capability (color error ≈ 4) and video and printing industry standards (color error is expected to be between 5 and 6). It can be concluded that a calibrated smartphone dermatoscope can provide sufficient color constancy and can serve as an interesting opportunity to bring dermatologists closer to the patients.

  16. Experience-Dependent Color Constancy in Guppies (Poecilia reticulata

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. E. Intskirveli

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available We investigated the ability to recognize the color of surfaces in fish (Poecilia reticulata, bred from birth in conditions of artificial light with constant spectral content. The capacity for color constancy significantly deteriorated when compared that to the control group. Further alteration of lighting conditions and transfer into natural daylight conditions restored the suppressed function to its normal level. We suggest that the color constancy function belongs in the visual system-response functions, the full development of which requires the accumulation of individual visual experience.

  17. Reflectance, illumination, and appearance in color constancy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCann, John J; Parraman, Carinna; Rizzi, Alessandro

    2014-01-01

    We studied color constancy using a pair of identical 3-D Color Mondrian displays. We viewed one 3-D Mondrian in nearly uniform illumination, and the other in directional, nonuniform illumination. We used the three dimensional structures to modulate the light falling on the painted surfaces. The 3-D structures in the displays were a matching set of wooden blocks. Across Mondrian displays, each corresponding facet had the same paint on its surface. We used only 6 chromatic, and 5 achromatic paints applied to 104 block facets. The 3-D blocks add shadows and multiple reflections not found in flat Mondrians. Both 3-D Mondrians were viewed simultaneously, side-by-side. We used two techniques to measure correlation of appearance with surface reflectance. First, observers made magnitude estimates of changes in the appearances of identical reflectances. Second, an author painted a watercolor of the 3-D Mondrians. The watercolor's reflectances quantified the changes in appearances. While constancy generalizations about illumination and reflectance hold for flat Mondrians, they do not for 3-D Mondrians. A constant paint does not exhibit perfect color constancy, but rather shows significant shifts in lightness, hue and chroma in response to the structure in the nonuniform illumination. Color appearance depends on the spatial information in both the illumination and the reflectances of objects. The spatial information of the quanta catch from the array of retinal receptors generates sensations that have variable correlation with surface reflectance. Models of appearance in humans need to calculate the departures from perfect constancy measured here. This article provides a dataset of measurements of color appearances for computational models of sensation.

  18. Reflectance, illumination, and appearance in color constancy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John J. McCann

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available We studied color constancy using a pair of identical 3-D Color Mondrian displays. We viewed one 3-D Mondrian in nearly uniform illumination, and the other in directional, nonuniform illumination. We used the three dimensional structures to modulate the light falling on the painted surfaces. The 3-D structures in the displays were a matching set of wooden blocks. Across Mondrian displays, each corresponding facet had the same paint on its surface. We used only 6 chromatic, and 5 achromatic paints applied to 104 block facets. The 3-D blocks add shadows and multiple reflections not found in flat Mondrians. Both 3-D Mondrians were viewed simultaneously, side-by-side. We used two techniques to measure correlation of appearance with surface reflectance. First, observers made magnitude estimates of changes in the appearances of identical reflectances. Second, an author painted a watercolor of the 3-D Mondrians. The watercolor’s reflectances quantified the changes in appearances. While constancy generalizations about illumination and reflectance hold for flat Mondrians, they do not for 3-D Mondrians. A constant paint does not exhibit perfect color constancy, but rather shows significant shifts in lightness, hue and chroma in response to the structure in the nonuniform illumination. Color appearance depends on the spatial information in both the illumination and the reflectances of objects. The spatial information of the quanta catch from the array of retinal receptors generates sensations that have variable correlation with surface reflectance. Models of appearance in humans need to calculate the departures from perfect constancy measured here. This article provides a dataset of measurements of color appearances for computational models of sensation.

  19. No Measured Effect of a Familiar Contextual Object on Color Constancy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kanematsu, Erika; Brainard, David H

    2014-08-01

    Some familiar objects have a typical color, such as the yellow of a banana. The presence of such objects in a scene is a potential cue to the scene illumination, since the light reflected from them should on average be consistent with their typical surface reflectance. Although there are many studies on how the identity of an object affects how its color is perceived, little is known about whether the presence of a familiar object in a scene helps the visual system stabilize the color appearance of other objects with respect to changes in illumination. We used a successive color matching procedure in three experiments designed to address this question. Across the experiments we studied a total of 6 subjects (2 in Experiment 1, 3 in Experiment 2, and 4 in Experiment 3) with partial overlap of subjects between experiments. We compared measured color constancy across conditions in which a familiar object cue to the illuminant was available with conditions in which such a cue was not present. Overall, our results do not reveal a reliable improvement in color constancy with the addition of a familiar object to a scene. An analysis of the experimental power of our data suggests that if there is such an effect, it is small: less than approximately a change of 0.09 in a constancy index where an absence of constancy corresponds to an index value of 0 and perfect constancy corresponds to an index value of 1.

  20. Color constancy in 3D-2D face recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyer, Manuel; Riess, Christian; Angelopoulou, Elli; Evangelopoulos, Georgios; Kakadiaris, Ioannis A.

    2013-05-01

    Face is one of the most popular biometric modalities. However, up to now, color is rarely actively used in face recognition. Yet, it is well-known that when a person recognizes a face, color cues can become as important as shape, especially when combined with the ability of people to identify the color of objects independent of illuminant color variations. In this paper, we examine the feasibility and effect of explicitly embedding illuminant color information in face recognition systems. We empirically examine the theoretical maximum gain of including known illuminant color to a 3D-2D face recognition system. We also investigate the impact of using computational color constancy methods for estimating the illuminant color, which is then incorporated into the face recognition framework. Our experiments show that under close-to-ideal illumination estimates, one can improve face recognition rates by 16%. When the illuminant color is algorithmically estimated, the improvement is approximately 5%. These results suggest that color constancy has a positive impact on face recognition, but the accuracy of the illuminant color estimate has a considerable effect on its benefits.

  1. HDR imaging and color constancy: two sides of the same coin?

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCann, John J.

    2011-01-01

    At first, we think that High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging is a technique for improved recordings of scene radiances. Many of us think that human color constancy is a variation of a camera's automatic white balance algorithm. However, on closer inspection, glare limits the range of light we can detect in cameras and on retinas. All scene regions below middle gray are influenced, more or less, by the glare from the bright scene segments. Instead of accurate radiance reproduction, HDR imaging works well because it preserves the details in the scene's spatial contrast. Similarly, on closer inspection, human color constancy depends on spatial comparisons that synthesize appearances from all the scene segments. Can spatial image processing play similar principle roles in both HDR imaging and color constancy?

  2. Comparing objective and subjective error measures for color constancy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lucassen, M.P.; Gijsenij, A.; Gevers, T.

    2008-01-01

    We compare an objective and a subjective performance measure for color constancy algorithms. Eight hyper-spectral images were rendered under a neutral reference illuminant and four chromatic illuminants (Red, Green, Yellow, Blue). The scenes rendered under the chromatic illuminants were color

  3. Improving color constancy by photometric edge weighting

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gijsenij, A.; Gevers, T.; van de Weijer, J.

    2012-01-01

    Edge-based color constancy methods make use of image derivatives to estimate the illuminant. However, different edge types exist in real-world images, such as material, shadow, and highlight edges. These different edge types may have a distinctive influence on the performance of the illuminant

  4. Feedback from horizontal cells to cones mediates color induction and may facilitate color constancy in rainbow trout

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sabbah, Shai; Zhu, Changhai; Hornsby, Mark A. W.; Kamermans, Maarten; Hawryshyn, Craig W.

    2013-01-01

    Color vision is most beneficial when the visual system is color constant and can correct the excitations of photoreceptors for differences in environmental irradiance. A phenomenon related to color constancy is color induction, where the color of an object shifts away from the color of its

  5. What #theDress reveals about the role of illumination priors in color perception and color constancy.

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    Aston, Stacey; Hurlbert, Anya

    2017-08-01

    The disagreement between people who named #theDress (the Internet phenomenon of 2015) "blue and black" versus "white and gold" is thought to be caused by individual differences in color constancy. It is hypothesized that observers infer different incident illuminations, relying on illumination "priors" to overcome the ambiguity of the image. Different experiences may drive the formation of different illumination priors, and these may be indicated by differences in chronotype. We assess this hypothesis, asking whether matches to perceived illumination in the image and/or perceived dress colors relate to scores on the morningness-eveningness questionnaire (a measure of chronotype). We find moderate correlations between chronotype and illumination matches (morning types giving bluer illumination matches than evening types) and chronotype and dress body matches, but these are significant only at the 10% level. Further, although inferred illumination chromaticity in the image explains variation in the color matches to the dress (confirming the color constancy hypothesis), color constancy thresholds obtained using an established illumination discrimination task are not related to dress color perception. We also find achromatic settings depend on luminance, suggesting that subjective white point differences may explain the variation in dress color perception only if settings are made at individually tailored luminance levels. The results of such achromatic settings are inconsistent with their assumed correspondence to perceived illumination. Finally, our results suggest that perception and naming are disconnected, with observers reporting different color names for the dress photograph and their isolated color matches, the latter best capturing the variation in the matches.

  6. Physics-based edge evaluation for improved color constancy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gijsenij, A.; Gevers, T.; van de Weijer, J.

    2009-01-01

    Edge-based color constancy makes use of image derivatives to estimate the illuminant. However, different edge types exist in real-world images such as shadow, geometry, material and highlight edges. These different edge types may have a distinctive influence on the performance of the illuminant

  7. Disparity, motion, and color information improve gloss constancy performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wendt, Gunnar; Faul, Franz; Ekroll, Vebjørn; Mausfeld, Rainer

    2010-09-01

    S. Nishida and M. Shinya (1998) found that observers have only a limited ability to recover surface-reflectance properties under changes in surface shape. Our aim in the present study was to investigate how the degree of surface-reflectance constancy depends on the availability of information that may help to infer the reflectance and shape properties of surfaces. To this end, we manipulated the availability of (i) motion-induced information (static vs. dynamic presentation), (ii) disparity information (with the levels "monocular," "surface disparity," and "surface + highlight disparity"), and (iii) color information (grayscale stimuli vs. hue differences between diffuse and specular reflections). The task of the subjects was to match the perceived lightness and glossiness between two surfaces with different spatial frequency and amplitude by manipulating the diffuse component and the exponent of the Phong lighting model in one of the surfaces. Our results indicate that all three types of information improve the constancy of glossiness matches--both in isolation and in combination. The lightness matching data only revealed an influence of motion and color information. Our results indicate, somewhat counterintuitively, that motion information has a detrimental effect on lightness constancy.

  8. [Research on developping the spectral dataset for Dunhuang typical colors based on color constancy].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Qiang; Wan, Xiao-Xia; Liu, Zhen; Li, Chan; Liang, Jin-Xing

    2013-11-01

    The present paper aims at developping a method to reasonably set up the typical spectral color dataset for different kinds of Chinese cultural heritage in color rendering process. The world famous wall paintings dating from more than 1700 years ago in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes was taken as typical case in this research. In order to maintain the color constancy during the color rendering workflow of Dunhuang culture relics, a chromatic adaptation based method for developping the spectral dataset of typical colors for those wall paintings was proposed from the view point of human vision perception ability. Under the help and guidance of researchers in the art-research institution and protection-research institution of Dunhuang Academy and according to the existing research achievement of Dunhuang Research in the past years, 48 typical known Dunhuang pigments were chosen and 240 representative color samples were made with reflective spectral ranging from 360 to 750 nm was acquired by a spectrometer. In order to find the typical colors of the above mentioned color samples, the original dataset was devided into several subgroups by clustering analysis. The grouping number, together with the most typical samples for each subgroup which made up the firstly built typical color dataset, was determined by wilcoxon signed rank test according to the color inconstancy index comprehensively calculated under 6 typical illuminating conditions. Considering the completeness of gamut of Dunhuang wall paintings, 8 complementary colors was determined and finally the typical spectral color dataset was built up which contains 100 representative spectral colors. The analytical calculating results show that the median color inconstancy index of the built dataset in 99% confidence level by wilcoxon signed rank test was 3.28 and the 100 colors are distributing in the whole gamut uniformly, which ensures that this dataset can provide reasonable reference for choosing the color with highest

  9. Surface-illuminant ambiguity and color constancy: effects of scene complexity and depth cues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kraft, James M; Maloney, Shannon I; Brainard, David H

    2002-01-01

    Two experiments were conducted to study how scene complexity and cues to depth affect human color constancy. Specifically, two levels of scene complexity were compared. The low-complexity scene contained two walls with the same surface reflectance and a test patch which provided no information about the illuminant. In addition to the surfaces visible in the low-complexity scene, the high-complexity scene contained two rectangular solid objects and 24 paper samples with diverse surface reflectances. Observers viewed illuminated objects in an experimental chamber and adjusted the test patch until it appeared achromatic. Achromatic settings made tinder two different illuminants were used to compute an index that quantified the degree of constancy. Two experiments were conducted: one in which observers viewed the stimuli directly, and one in which they viewed the scenes through an optical system that reduced cues to depth. In each experiment, constancy was assessed for two conditions. In the valid-cue condition, many cues provided valid information about the illuminant change. In the invalid-cue condition, some image cues provided invalid information. Four broad conclusions are drawn from the data: (a) constancy is generally better in the valid-cue condition than in the invalid-cue condition: (b) for the stimulus configuration used, increasing image complexity has little effect in the valid-cue condition but leads to increased constancy in the invalid-cue condition; (c) for the stimulus configuration used, reducing cues to depth has little effect for either constancy condition: and (d) there is moderate individual variation in the degree of constancy exhibited, particularly in the degree to which the complexity manipulation affects performance.

  10. Across frequency processes involved in auditory detection of coloration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Buchholz, Jörg; Kerketsos, P

    2008-01-01

    filterbank was designed to approximate auditory filter-shapes measured by Oxenham and Shera [JARO, 2003, 541-554], derived from forward masking data. The results of the present study demonstrate that a “purely” spectrum-based model approach can successfully describe auditory coloration detection even at high......When an early wall reflection is added to a direct sound, a spectral modulation is introduced to the signal's power spectrum. This spectral modulation typically produces an auditory sensation of coloration or pitch. Throughout this study, auditory spectral-integration effects involved in coloration...... detection are investigated. Coloration detection thresholds were therefore measured as a function of reflection delay and stimulus bandwidth. In order to investigate the involved auditory mechanisms, an auditory model was employed that was conceptually similar to the peripheral weighting model [Yost, JASA...

  11. White constancy method for mobile displays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yum, Ji Young; Park, Hyun Hee; Jang, Seul Ki; Lee, Jae Hyang; Kim, Jong Ho; Yi, Ji Young; Lee, Min Woo

    2014-03-01

    In these days, consumer's needs for image quality of mobile devices are increasing as smartphone is widely used. For example, colors may be perceived differently when displayed contents under different illuminants. Displayed white in incandescent lamp is perceived as bluish, while same content in LED light is perceived as yellowish. When changed in perceived white under illuminant environment, image quality would be degraded. Objective of the proposed white constancy method is restricted to maintain consistent output colors regardless of the illuminants utilized. Human visual experiments are performed to analyze viewers'perceptual constancy. Participants are asked to choose the displayed white in a variety of illuminants. Relationship between the illuminants and the selected colors with white are modeled by mapping function based on the results of human visual experiments. White constancy values for image control are determined on the predesigned functions. Experimental results indicate that propsed method yields better image quality by keeping the display white.

  12. Improving color constancy by discounting the variation of camera spectral sensitivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Shao-Bing; Zhang, Ming; Li, Chao-Yi; Li, Yong-Jie

    2017-08-01

    It is an ill-posed problem to recover the true scene colors from a color biased image by discounting the effects of scene illuminant and camera spectral sensitivity (CSS) at the same time. Most color constancy (CC) models have been designed to first estimate the illuminant color, which is then removed from the color biased image to obtain an image taken under white light, without the explicit consideration of CSS effect on CC. This paper first studies the CSS effect on illuminant estimation arising in the inter-dataset-based CC (inter-CC), i.e., training a CC model on one dataset and then testing on another dataset captured by a distinct CSS. We show the clear degradation of existing CC models for inter-CC application. Then a simple way is proposed to overcome such degradation by first learning quickly a transform matrix between the two distinct CSSs (CSS-1 and CSS-2). The learned matrix is then used to convert the data (including the illuminant ground truth and the color biased images) rendered under CSS-1 into CSS-2, and then train and apply the CC model on the color biased images under CSS-2, without the need of burdensome acquiring of training set under CSS-2. Extensive experiments on synthetic and real images show that our method can clearly improve the inter-CC performance for traditional CC algorithms. We suggest that by taking the CSS effect into account, it is more likely to obtain the truly color constant images invariant to the changes of both illuminant and camera sensors.

  13. Illuminant color estimation based on pigmentation separation from human skin color

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanaka, Satomi; Kakinuma, Akihiro; Kamijo, Naohiro; Takahashi, Hiroshi; Tsumura, Norimichi

    2015-03-01

    Human has the visual system called "color constancy" that maintains the perceptive colors of same object across various light sources. The effective method of color constancy algorithm was proposed to use the human facial color in a digital color image, however, this method has wrong estimation results by the difference of individual facial colors. In this paper, we present the novel color constancy algorithm based on skin color analysis. The skin color analysis is the method to separate the skin color into the components of melanin, hemoglobin and shading. We use the stationary property of Japanese facial color, and this property is calculated from the components of melanin and hemoglobin. As a result, we achieve to propose the method to use subject's facial color in image and not depend on the individual difference among Japanese facial color.

  14. Investigation of Color Constancy in 4.5-Month-Old Infants under a Strict Control of Luminance Contrast for Individual Participants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Jiale; Kanazawa, So; Yamaguchi, Masami K.; Kuriki, Ichiro

    2013-01-01

    The current study examined color constancy in infants using a familiarization paradigm. We first obtained isoluminance in each infant as defined by the minimum motion paradigm and used these data to control the luminance of stimuli in the main experiments. In the familiarization phase of the main experiment, two identical smiling face patterns…

  15. Flower Constancy, Insect Psychology, and Plant Evolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chittka, Lars; Thomson, James D.; Waser, Nickolas M.

    Individuals of some species of pollinating insects tend to restrict their visits to only a few of the available plant species, in the process bypassing valuable food sources. The question of why this flower constancy exists is a rich and important one with implications for the organization of natural communities of plants, floral evolution, and our understanding of the learning processes involved in finding food. Some scientists have assumed that flower constancy is adaptive per se. Others argued that constancy occurs because memory capacity for floral features in insects is limited, but attempts to identify the limitations often remained rather simplistic. We elucidate now different sensory and motor memories from natural foraging tasks are stored and retrieved, using concepts from modern learning science and visual search, and conclude that flower constancy is likely to have multiple causes. Possible constraints favoring constancy are interference sensitivity of short-term memory, and temporal limitations on retrieving information from long-term memory as rapidly as from short-term memory, but further empirical evidence is needed to substantiate these possibilities. In addition, retrieving memories may be slower and more prone to errors when there are several options than when an insect copes with only a single task. In addition to memory limitations, we also point out alternative explanations for flower constancy. We then consider the way in which floral parameters, such as interplant distances, nectar rewards, flower morphology, and floral color (as seen through bees' eyes) affect constancy. Finally, we discuss the implications of pollinator constancy for plant evolution. To date there is no evidence that flowers have diverged to favor constancy, although the appropriate tests may not have yet been conducted. However, there is good evidence against the notion that pollinator constancy is involved in speciation or maintenance of plant species integrity.

  16. THE APPLICATION OF SUPPORT VECTOR MACHINE (SVM USING CIELAB COLOR MODEL, COLOR INTENSITY AND COLOR CONSTANCY AS FEATURES FOR ORTHO IMAGE CLASSIFICATION OF BENTHIC HABITATS IN HINATUAN, SURIGAO DEL SUR, PHILIPPINES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. E. Cubillas

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available This study demonstrates the application of CIELAB, Color intensity, and One Dimensional Scalar Constancy as features for image recognition and classifying benthic habitats in an image with the coastal areas of Hinatuan, Surigao Del Sur, Philippines as the study area. The study area is composed of four datasets, namely: (a Blk66L005, (b Blk66L021, (c Blk66L024, and (d Blk66L0114. SVM optimization was performed in Matlab® software with the help of Parallel Computing Toolbox to hasten the SVM computing speed. The image used for collecting samples for SVM procedure was Blk66L0114 in which a total of 134,516 sample objects of mangrove, possible coral existence with rocks, sand, sea, fish pens and sea grasses were collected and processed. The collected samples were then used as training sets for the supervised learning algorithm and for the creation of class definitions. The learned hyper-planes separating one class from another in the multi-dimensional feature space can be thought of as a super feature which will then be used in developing the C (classifier rule set in eCognition® software. The classification results of the sampling site yielded an accuracy of 98.85% which confirms the reliability of remote sensing techniques and analysis employed to orthophotos like the CIELAB, Color Intensity and One dimensional scalar constancy and the use of SVM classification algorithm in classifying benthic habitats.

  17. Association of auditory-verbal and visual hallucinations with impaired and improved recognition of colored pictures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brébion, Gildas; Stephan-Otto, Christian; Usall, Judith; Huerta-Ramos, Elena; Perez del Olmo, Mireia; Cuevas-Esteban, Jorge; Haro, Josep Maria; Ochoa, Susana

    2015-09-01

    A number of cognitive underpinnings of auditory hallucinations have been established in schizophrenia patients, but few have, as yet, been uncovered for visual hallucinations. In previous research, we unexpectedly observed that auditory hallucinations were associated with poor recognition of color, but not black-and-white (b/w), pictures. In this study, we attempted to replicate and explain this finding. Potential associations with visual hallucinations were explored. B/w and color pictures were presented to 50 schizophrenia patients and 45 healthy individuals under 2 conditions of visual context presentation corresponding to 2 levels of visual encoding complexity. Then, participants had to recognize the target pictures among distractors. Auditory-verbal hallucinations were inversely associated with the recognition of the color pictures presented under the most effortful encoding condition. This association was fully mediated by working-memory span. Visual hallucinations were associated with improved recognition of the color pictures presented under the less effortful condition. Patients suffering from visual hallucinations were not impaired, relative to the healthy participants, in the recognition of these pictures. Decreased working-memory span in patients with auditory-verbal hallucinations might impede the effortful encoding of stimuli. Visual hallucinations might be associated with facilitation in the visual encoding of natural scenes, or with enhanced color perception abilities. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  18. Lightness constancy: Object identity and temporal integration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zdravković Sunčica

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Studies of lightness constancy typically involve the comparison of two objects of the same shade that have been placed under different illuminations. In this study, we introduce factors such as object identity and immediate prior experience to measure the effect of these manipulations on constancy. In the first experiment, conditions sufficient to reproduce classical constancy failure (illumination difference, target values, articulation level were determined. In the second experiment a lightness judgment was made for a gray target that was then seen to move into another illumination level for the second match. Motion was used in an attempt to stress the target’s identity. The shade was still judged significantly lighter when placed under the higher than under the lower illumination. Failure of constancy thus occurred even when object identity was not in question. In the third experiment a priming paradigm was used, to assess the strength of constancy: one shade would appear in one illumination level and another shade in the other illumination level. Motion was used to trick observers into thinking that only a single object was presented. The estimated shade varied as a function of the shade of the prime. In the last experiment, observers were asked to make another match when the object was removed from view: the match of its true color independent of illumination. The value of this match-from-memory was based on the value obtained in the higher illumination level. Taken together, the experiments show that through object identity, immediate prior experience can influence lightness in systematic fashion.

  19. Color fidelity of chromatic distributions by triad illuminant comparison

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lucassen, M.P.; Gevers, T.; Gijsenij, A.

    2011-01-01

    Performance measures for quantifying human color constancy and computational color constancy are very different. The former relate to measurements on individual object colors whereas the latter relate to the accuracy of the estimated illuminant. To bridge this gap, we propose a psychophysical method

  20. Rethinking Colour Constancy.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander D Logvinenko

    Full Text Available Colour constancy needs to be reconsidered in light of the limits imposed by metamer mismatching. Metamer mismatching refers to the fact that two objects reflecting metameric light under one illumination may reflect non-metameric light under a second; so two objects appearing as having the same colour under one illuminant can appear as having different colours under a second. Yet since Helmholtz, object colour has generally been believed to remain relatively constant. The deviations from colour constancy registered in experiments are usually thought to be small enough that they do not contradict the notion of colour constancy. However, it is important to determine how the deviations from colour constancy relate to the limits metamer mismatching imposes on constancy. Hence, we calculated metamer mismatching's effect for the 20 Munsell papers and 8 pairs of illuminants employed in the colour constancy study by Logvinenko and Tokunaga and found it to be so extensive that the two notions-metamer mismatching and colour constancy-must be mutually exclusive. In particular, the notion of colour constancy leads to some paradoxical phenomena such as the possibility of 20 objects having the same colour under chromatic light dispersing into a hue circle of colours under neutral light. Thus, colour constancy refers to a phenomenon, which because of metamer mismatching, simply cannot exist. Moreover, it obscures the really important visual phenomenon; namely, the alteration of object colours induced by illumination change. We show that colour is not an independent, intrinsic attribute of an object, but rather an attribute of an object/light pair, and then define a concept of material colour in terms of equivalence classes of such object/light pairs. We suggest that studying the shift in material colour under a change in illuminant will be more fruitful than pursuing colour constancy's false premise that colour is an intrinsic attribute of an object.

  1. Rethinking Colour Constancy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Logvinenko, Alexander D; Funt, Brian; Mirzaei, Hamidreza; Tokunaga, Rumi

    2015-01-01

    Colour constancy needs to be reconsidered in light of the limits imposed by metamer mismatching. Metamer mismatching refers to the fact that two objects reflecting metameric light under one illumination may reflect non-metameric light under a second; so two objects appearing as having the same colour under one illuminant can appear as having different colours under a second. Yet since Helmholtz, object colour has generally been believed to remain relatively constant. The deviations from colour constancy registered in experiments are usually thought to be small enough that they do not contradict the notion of colour constancy. However, it is important to determine how the deviations from colour constancy relate to the limits metamer mismatching imposes on constancy. Hence, we calculated metamer mismatching's effect for the 20 Munsell papers and 8 pairs of illuminants employed in the colour constancy study by Logvinenko and Tokunaga and found it to be so extensive that the two notions-metamer mismatching and colour constancy-must be mutually exclusive. In particular, the notion of colour constancy leads to some paradoxical phenomena such as the possibility of 20 objects having the same colour under chromatic light dispersing into a hue circle of colours under neutral light. Thus, colour constancy refers to a phenomenon, which because of metamer mismatching, simply cannot exist. Moreover, it obscures the really important visual phenomenon; namely, the alteration of object colours induced by illumination change. We show that colour is not an independent, intrinsic attribute of an object, but rather an attribute of an object/light pair, and then define a concept of material colour in terms of equivalence classes of such object/light pairs. We suggest that studying the shift in material colour under a change in illuminant will be more fruitful than pursuing colour constancy's false premise that colour is an intrinsic attribute of an object.

  2. Working Memory Is Related to Perceptual Processing: A Case from Color Perception

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Elizabeth C.; Beilock, Sian L.; Shevell, Steven K.

    2011-01-01

    We explored the relation between individual differences in working memory (WM) and color constancy, the phenomenon of color perception that allows us to perceive the color of an object as relatively stable under changes in illumination. Successive color constancy (measured by first viewing a colored surface under a particular illumination and…

  3. The inconstant "principle of constancy".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kanzer, M

    1983-01-01

    A review of the principle of constancy, as it appeared in Freud's writings, shows that it was inspired by his clinical observations, first with Breuer in the field of cathartic therapy and then through experiences in the early usage of psychoanalysis. The recognition that memories repressed in the unconscious created increasing tension, and that this was relieved with dischargelike phenomena when the unconscious was made conscious, was the basis for his claim to originality in this area. The two principles of "neuronic inertia" Freud expounded in the Project (1895), are found to offer the key to the ambiguous definition of the principle of constancy he was to offer in later years. The "original" principle, which sought the complete discharge of energy (or elimination of stimuli), became the forerunner of the death drive; the "extended" principle achieved balances that were relatively constant, but succumbed in the end to complete discharge. This was the predecessor of the life drives. The relation between the constancy and pleasure-unpleasure principles was maintained for twenty-five years largely on an empirical basis which invoked the concept of psychophysical parallelism between "quantity" and "quality." As the links between the two principles were weakened by clinical experiences attendant upon the growth of ego psychology, a revision of the principle of constancy was suggested, and it was renamed the Nirvana principle. Actually it was shifted from alignment with the "extended" principle of inertia to the original, so that "constancy" was incongruously identified with self-extinction. The former basis for the constancy principle, the extended principle of inertia, became identified with Eros. Only a few commentators seem aware of this radical transformation, which has been overlooked in the Standard Edition of Freud's writings. Physiological biases in the history and conception of the principle of constancy are noted in the Standard Edition. The historical

  4. The Central Auditory Processing Kit[TM]. Book 1: Auditory Memory [and] Book 2: Auditory Discrimination, Auditory Closure, and Auditory Synthesis [and] Book 3: Auditory Figure-Ground, Auditory Cohesion, Auditory Binaural Integration, and Compensatory Strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mokhemar, Mary Ann

    This kit for assessing central auditory processing disorders (CAPD), in children in grades 1 through 8 includes 3 books, 14 full-color cards with picture scenes, and a card depicting a phone key pad, all contained in a sturdy carrying case. The units in each of the three books correspond with auditory skill areas most commonly addressed in…

  5. Color Algebras

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mulligan, Jeffrey B.

    2017-01-01

    A color algebra refers to a system for computing sums and products of colors, analogous to additive and subtractive color mixtures. The difficulty addressed here is the fact that, because of metamerism, we cannot know with certainty the spectrum that produced a particular color solely on the basis of sensory data. Knowledge of the spectrum is not required to compute additive mixture of colors, but is critical for subtractive (multiplicative) mixture. Therefore, we cannot predict with certainty the multiplicative interactions between colors based solely on sensory data. There are two potential applications of a color algebra: first, to aid modeling phenomena of human visual perception, such as color constancy and transparency; and, second, to provide better models of the interactions of lights and surfaces for computer graphics rendering.

  6. Perceptual approach for unsupervised digital color restoration of cinematographic archives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chambah, Majed; Rizzi, Alessandro; Gatta, Carlo; Besserer, Bernard; Marini, Daniele

    2003-01-01

    The cinematographic archives represent an important part of our collective memory. We present in this paper some advances in automating the color fading restoration process, especially with regard to the automatic color correction technique. The proposed color correction method is based on the ACE model, an unsupervised color equalization algorithm based on a perceptual approach and inspired by some adaptation mechanisms of the human visual system, in particular lightness constancy and color constancy. There are some advantages in a perceptual approach: mainly its robustness and its local filtering properties, that lead to more effective results. The resulting technique, is not just an application of ACE on movie images, but an enhancement of ACE principles to meet the requirements in the digital film restoration field. The presented preliminary results are satisfying and promising.

  7. Determinants of Colour Constancy and the Blue Bias

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gegenfurtner, Karl

    2017-01-01

    We investigated several sensory and cognitive determinants of colour constancy across 40 illumination hues. In the first experiment, we measured colour naming for the illumination and for the colour induced by the illumination on the colorimetric grey. Results confirmed that the induced colours are approximately complementary to the colour of the illumination. In the second experiment, we measured colour constancy using achromatic adjustments. Average colour constancy was perfect under the blue daylight illumination and decreased in colour directions away from the blue daylight illumination due to undershooting and a strong blue bias. Apart from this blue bias, colour constancy was not related to illumination discrimination and to chromatic detection measured previously with the same setup and stimuli. We also observed a strong negative relationship between the degree of colour constancy and the consensus of naming the illumination colour. Constancy coincided with a low naming consensus, in particular because bluish illumination colours were sometimes seen as achromatic. Blue bias and category consensus alone explained >68%, and all determinants together explained >94% of the variance of achromatic adjustments. These findings suggest that colour constancy is optimised for blue daylight. PMID:29348910

  8. Towards representation of a perceptual color manifold using associative memory for color constancy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seow, Ming-Jung; Asari, Vijayan K

    2009-01-01

    In this paper, we propose the concept of a manifold of color perception through empirical observation that the center-surround properties of images in a perceptually similar environment define a manifold in the high dimensional space. Such a manifold representation can be learned using a novel recurrent neural network based learning algorithm. Unlike the conventional recurrent neural network model in which the memory is stored in an attractive fixed point at discrete locations in the state space, the dynamics of the proposed learning algorithm represent memory as a nonlinear line of attraction. The region of convergence around the nonlinear line is defined by the statistical characteristics of the training data. This learned manifold can then be used as a basis for color correction of the images having different color perception to the learned color perception. Experimental results show that the proposed recurrent neural network learning algorithm is capable of color balance the lighting variations in images captured in different environments successfully.

  9. Digital color acquisition, perception, coding and rendering

    CERN Document Server

    Fernandez-Maloigne, Christine; Macaire, Ludovic

    2013-01-01

    In this book the authors identify the basic concepts and recent advances in the acquisition, perception, coding and rendering of color. The fundamental aspects related to the science of colorimetry in relation to physiology (the human visual system) are addressed, as are constancy and color appearance. It also addresses the more technical aspects related to sensors and the color management screen. Particular attention is paid to the notion of color rendering in computer graphics. Beyond color, the authors also look at coding, compression, protection and quality of color images and videos.

  10. The effect of memory and context changes on color matches to real objects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allred, Sarah R; Olkkonen, Maria

    2015-07-01

    Real-world color identification tasks often require matching the color of objects between contexts and after a temporal delay, thus placing demands on both perceptual and memory processes. Although the mechanisms of matching colors between different contexts have been widely studied under the rubric of color constancy, little research has investigated the role of long-term memory in such tasks or how memory interacts with color constancy. To investigate this relationship, observers made color matches to real study objects that spanned color space, and we independently manipulated the illumination impinging on the objects, the surfaces in which objects were embedded, and the delay between seeing the study object and selecting its color match. Adding a 10-min delay increased both the bias and variability of color matches compared to a baseline condition. These memory errors were well accounted for by modeling memory as a noisy but unbiased version of perception constrained by the matching methods. Surprisingly, we did not observe significant increases in errors when illumination and surround changes were added to the 10-minute delay, although the context changes alone did elicit significant errors.

  11. Transparency perception: the key to understanding simultaneous color contrast.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ekroll, Vebjørn; Faul, Franz

    2013-03-01

    The well-known simultaneous color contrast effect is traditionally explained in terms of visual color constancy mechanisms correcting for the confounding influence of ambient illumination on the retinal color signal. Recent research, however, suggests that the traditional gross quantitative laws of simultaneous color contrast, which are readily compatible with this functional explanation, should be revised and replaced by others, which are not readily understandable in terms of this perspective. Here, we show that the revised laws of simultaneous color contrast are well accounted for by an alternative theory explaining the simultaneous contrast effect in terms of mechanisms subserving the perception of transparent media.

  12. Some tests for parameter constancy in cointegrated VAR-models

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Henrik; Johansen, Søren

    1999-01-01

    Some methods for the evaluation of parameter constancy in vector autoregressive (VAR) models are discussed. Two different ways of re-estimating the VAR model are proposed; one in which all parameters are estimated recursively based upon the likelihood function for the first observations, and anot...... be applied to test the constancy of the long-run parameters in the cointegrated VAR-model. All results are illustrated using a model for the term structure of interest rates on US Treasury securities. ......Some methods for the evaluation of parameter constancy in vector autoregressive (VAR) models are discussed. Two different ways of re-estimating the VAR model are proposed; one in which all parameters are estimated recursively based upon the likelihood function for the first observations......, and another in which the cointegrating relations are estimated recursively from a likelihood function, where the short-run parameters have been concentrated out. We suggest graphical procedures based on recursively estimated eigenvalues to evaluate the constancy of the long-run parameters in the model...

  13. Technical quality control - constancy controls for digital mammography systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pedersen, K.; Landmark, I.D.; Bredholt, K.; Hauge, I.H.R.

    2009-04-01

    To ensure the quality of mammographic images, so-called constancy control tests are performed frequently. The report contains a programme for constancy control of digital mammography systems, encompassing the mammography unit, computed radiography (CR) systems, viewing conditions and displays, printers, and procedures for data collection for patient dose calculations. (Author)

  14. Effects of memory colour on colour constancy for unknown coloured objects

    OpenAIRE

    Granzier, Jeroen J M; Gegenfurtner, Karl R

    2012-01-01

    The perception of an object's colour remains constant despite large variations in the chromaticity of the illumination—colour constancy. Hering suggested that memory colours, the typical colours of objects, could help in estimating the illuminant's colour and therefore be an important factor in establishing colour constancy. Here we test whether the presence of objects with diagnostical colours (fruits, vegetables, etc) within a scene influence colour constancy for unknown coloured objects in...

  15. Compensating Level-Dependent Frequency Representation in Auditory Cortex by Synaptic Integration of Corticocortical Input.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Max F K Happel

    Full Text Available Robust perception of auditory objects over a large range of sound intensities is a fundamental feature of the auditory system. However, firing characteristics of single neurons across the entire auditory system, like the frequency tuning, can change significantly with stimulus intensity. Physiological correlates of level-constancy of auditory representations hence should be manifested on the level of larger neuronal assemblies or population patterns. In this study we have investigated how information of frequency and sound level is integrated on the circuit-level in the primary auditory cortex (AI of the Mongolian gerbil. We used a combination of pharmacological silencing of corticocortically relayed activity and laminar current source density (CSD analysis. Our data demonstrate that with increasing stimulus intensities progressively lower frequencies lead to the maximal impulse response within cortical input layers at a given cortical site inherited from thalamocortical synaptic inputs. We further identified a temporally precise intercolumnar synaptic convergence of early thalamocortical and horizontal corticocortical inputs. Later tone-evoked activity in upper layers showed a preservation of broad tonotopic tuning across sound levels without shifts towards lower frequencies. Synaptic integration within corticocortical circuits may hence contribute to a level-robust representation of auditory information on a neuronal population level in the auditory cortex.

  16. Effects of memory colour on colour constancy for unknown coloured objects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Granzier, Jeroen J M; Gegenfurtner, Karl R

    2012-01-01

    The perception of an object's colour remains constant despite large variations in the chromaticity of the illumination-colour constancy. Hering suggested that memory colours, the typical colours of objects, could help in estimating the illuminant's colour and therefore be an important factor in establishing colour constancy. Here we test whether the presence of objects with diagnostical colours (fruits, vegetables, etc) within a scene influence colour constancy for unknown coloured objects in the scene. Subjects matched one of four Munsell papers placed in a scene illuminated under either a reddish or a greenish lamp with the Munsell book of colour illuminated by a neutral lamp. The Munsell papers were embedded in four different scenes-one scene containing diagnostically coloured objects, one scene containing incongruent coloured objects, a third scene with geometrical objects of the same colour as the diagnostically coloured objects, and one scene containing non-diagnostically coloured objects (eg, a yellow coffee mug). All objects were placed against a black background. Colour constancy was on average significantly higher for the scene containing the diagnostically coloured objects compared with the other scenes tested. We conclude that the colours of familiar objects help in obtaining colour constancy for unknown objects.

  17. Effects of Memory Colour on Colour Constancy for Unknown Coloured Objects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeroen J M Granzier

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available The perception of an object's colour remains constant despite large variations in the chromaticity of the illumination—colour constancy. Hering suggested that memory colours, the typical colours of objects, could help in estimating the illuminant's colour and therefore be an important factor in establishing colour constancy. Here we test whether the presence of objects with diagnostical colours (fruits, vegetables, etc within a scene influence colour constancy for unknown coloured objects in the scene. Subjects matched one of four Munsell papers placed in a scene illuminated under either a reddish or a greenish lamp with the Munsell book of colour illuminated by a neutral lamp. The Munsell papers were embedded in four different scenes—one scene containing diagnostically coloured objects, one scene containing incongruent coloured objects, a third scene with geometrical objects of the same colour as the diagnostically coloured objects, and one scene containing non-diagnostically coloured objects (eg, a yellow coffee mug. All objects were placed against a black background. Colour constancy was on average significantly higher for the scene containing the diagnostically coloured objects compared with the other scenes tested. We conclude that the colours of familiar objects help in obtaining colour constancy for unknown objects.

  18. Constance mirror program: progress and plans

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klinkowstein, R.E.; Mauel, M.E.; Irby, J.; Smullin, L.D.; Voldman, S.

    1981-01-01

    The basic construction of the Constance II experiment was completed during August of 1979 with the installation of the first set of Ioffe bars. Since then, several improvements have been made and several experimental investigations have been completed. These are: (1) the improved, liquid-nitrogen cooled, Ioffe bars have been constructed and installed, (2) a diverter coil was installed between the guide and mirror field region, (3) the 100 kW ICRF generator have been constructed and tested, (4) the data acquisition system has been completed, (5) confinement studies have determined the optimum hot-ion operation of the machine with Titanium and pulsed-gas plasma guns, (6) the density, temperature, and radius of the plasma have been measured, (7) ion-cyclotron fluctuations have been observed, their bandwidth measured, and the conditions for its appearance investigated, and (8) preliminary ECRH data have been collected demonstrating resonance heating. In addition, development of the diagnostics has continued. For example, new x-ray diagnostics have been designed and purchased, and progress on the Thomson scattering has been made. Finally, a new hot cathode gun, which will soon be tested, has been designed and constructed. This report discusses the current state of the mechanics of the Constance II experiment as well as the physics results that have been gathered to date. In addition, the motivation, background, and future plans for the Constance II experiment will be reviewed

  19. Kuu plaat : Galaktlan "Constance". Plaadid kauplusest Lasering

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    2005-01-01

    Heliplaatidest: Galaktlan "Constance", Bonnie "Prince" Billy & Matt Sweeney "Superwolf", Hinkus feat. Maarja "Look around", Noizmakaz "Valitud mõtted", Hedvig Hanson & Andre Maaker "You Bring Me Yoy", Nancy Sinatra "Nancy Sinatra"

  20. An Experimental Test of the Effects of Gender Constancy on Sex Typing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arthur, Andrea E.; Bigler, Rebecca S.; Ruble, Diane N.

    2009-01-01

    This study provides an experimental test of the hypothesis that level of gender constancy understanding affects children's sex typing. Preschool-age children (N = 62, mean age = 47 months) were randomly assigned to experimental lessons that taught that biological traits (including gender) are either fixed (pro-constancy condition) or mutable…

  1. Chronologie de la vie et des œuvres de Constance Fenimore Woolson Chronology of Constance Fenimore Woolson’s Life and Work

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeannine Hayat

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Français1840Constance Fenimore Woolson est née à Claremont, New Hampshire (5 mars. Elle était le sixième enfant de Charles Jarvis et de Hannah Cooper Pomeroy Woolson. Elle était, par sa mère, une petite-nièce de James Fenimore Cooper.Automne 1840Les Woolson déménagent à Cleveland, Ohio, après le décès de trois de leurs filles, atteintes de la scarlatine. Enfant et jeune fille, Constance voyage en Ohio, dans le Wisconsin et en Nouvelle Angleterre.Eté 1855Elle découvre l’île de Mackinac dans l...

  2. BRDF invariant stereo using light transport constancy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Liang; Yang, Ruigang; Davis, James E

    2007-09-01

    Nearly all existing methods for stereo reconstruction assume that scene reflectance is Lambertian and make use of brightness constancy as a matching invariant. We introduce a new invariant for stereo reconstruction called light transport constancy (LTC), which allows completely arbitrary scene reflectance (bidirectional reflectance distribution functions (BRDFs)). This invariant can be used to formulate a rank constraint on multiview stereo matching when the scene is observed by several lighting configurations in which only the lighting intensity varies. In addition, we show that this multiview constraint can be used with as few as two cameras and two lighting configurations. Unlike previous methods for BRDF invariant stereo, LTC does not require precisely configured or calibrated light sources or calibration objects in the scene. Importantly, the new constraint can be used to provide BRDF invariance to any existing stereo method whenever appropriate lighting variation is available.

  3. A virtual auditory environment for investigating the auditory signal processing of realistic sounds

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Favrot, Sylvain Emmanuel; Buchholz, Jörg

    2008-01-01

    In the present study, a novel multichannel loudspeaker-based virtual auditory environment (VAE) is introduced. The VAE aims at providing a versatile research environment for investigating the auditory signal processing in real environments, i.e., considering multiple sound sources and room...... reverberation. The environment is based on the ODEON room acoustic simulation software to render the acoustical scene. ODEON outputs are processed using a combination of different order Ambisonic techniques to calculate multichannel room impulse responses (mRIR). Auralization is then obtained by the convolution...... the VAE development, special care was taken in order to achieve a realistic auditory percept and to avoid “artifacts” such as unnatural coloration. The performance of the VAE has been evaluated and optimized on a 29 loudspeaker setup using both objective and subjective measurement techniques....

  4. The Development of Gender Constancy in Early Childhood and Its Relation to Time Comprehension and False-Belief Understanding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zmyj, Norbert; Bischof-Köhler, Doris

    2015-01-01

    What is the developmental course of children's gender constancy? Do other cognitive abilities such as time comprehension and false-belief understanding foster gender constancy and the subcomponents gender stability and gender consistency? We examined the development of gender constancy and its relation to time comprehension and false-belief…

  5. Constancy check of beam quality in conventional diagnostic X-ray equipment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Costa, Alessandro M.; Badin, Romulo S.; Leite, Marina S.; Caldas, Linda V.E.

    2008-01-01

    A tandem ionization chamber was developed for quality control programs of X-ray equipment used in conventional radiography and mammography. A methodology for the use of the tandem chamber in the constancy check of diagnostic X-ray beam qualities was established. The application at a medical X-ray imaging facility of this established methodology is presented. The use of the tandem chamber in the constancy check of diagnostic X-ray beam qualities is a useful method to control the performance of the X-ray equipment

  6. Detecting and accounting for violations of the constancy assumption in non-inferiority clinical trials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koopmeiners, Joseph S; Hobbs, Brian P

    2018-05-01

    Randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials are the gold standard for evaluating a novel therapeutic agent. In some instances, it may not be considered ethical or desirable to complete a placebo-controlled clinical trial and, instead, the placebo is replaced by an active comparator with the objective of showing either superiority or non-inferiority to the active comparator. In a non-inferiority trial, the experimental treatment is considered non-inferior if it retains a pre-specified proportion of the effect of the active comparator as represented by the non-inferiority margin. A key assumption required for valid inference in the non-inferiority setting is the constancy assumption, which requires that the effect of the active comparator in the non-inferiority trial is consistent with the effect that was observed in previous trials. It has been shown that violations of the constancy assumption can result in a dramatic increase in the rate of incorrectly concluding non-inferiority in the presence of ineffective or even harmful treatment. In this paper, we illustrate how Bayesian hierarchical modeling can be used to facilitate multi-source smoothing of the data from the current trial with the data from historical studies, enabling direct probabilistic evaluation of the constancy assumption. We then show how this result can be used to adapt the non-inferiority margin when the constancy assumption is violated and present simulation results illustrating that our method controls the type-I error rate when the constancy assumption is violated, while retaining the power of the standard approach when the constancy assumption holds. We illustrate our adaptive procedure using a non-inferiority trial of raltegravir, an antiretroviral drug for the treatment of HIV.

  7. P1-13: Color Induction from Surround Color under Interocular Suppression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ichiro Kuriki

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available The effect of surround colors on color appearance is known to subserve color constancy in humans, but how multiple mechanisms in the visual system are involved in this effect is controversial. We used an interocular-suppression technique to examine how the effect occurs at the level higher than the interaction of binocular information. A test color chip (1.7 × 1.7 deg visual angle was presented in a static surround either with continuous-flash suppression in the dominant eye (CFS condition to make the surround inperceptible or without the suppression (no-CFS condition. The surround stimulus was either a Mondrian or a uniform field of the same mean chromaticity. Stimuli were simulated OSA color chips under red, white (D65, or green illuminant color and were presented on a CRT display. Unique yellows were measured by asking the subjects to judge whether the test stimulus appeared reddish or greenish. Two sizes of the surround stimuli (widths of 1 deg and 4 deg were used. Results showed significant shifts in unique yellow even under the CFS conditions, except for the 1 deg uniform-surround condition. Under the no-CFS condition, the shifts showed remarkable difference between subjects, except for the 4 deg Mondrian-surround condition. Interestingly, trends of the shifts showed high consistency within each subject, across conditions. These results indicate that mechanisms at both higher and lower levels than the neuronal site of interocular suppression are involved, and that the color shifts follow each subject's strategy in the higher-order mechanisms when only insufficient clues are available in the surround to estimate illuminant color.

  8. Contingent capture of involuntary visual attention interferes with detection of auditory stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamke, Marc R; Harris, Jill

    2014-01-01

    The involuntary capture of attention by salient visual stimuli can be influenced by the behavioral goals of an observer. For example, when searching for a target item, irrelevant items that possess the target-defining characteristic capture attention more strongly than items not possessing that feature. Such contingent capture involves a shift of spatial attention toward the item with the target-defining characteristic. It is not clear, however, if the associated decrements in performance for detecting the target item are entirely due to involuntary orienting of spatial attention. To investigate whether contingent capture also involves a non-spatial interference, adult observers were presented with streams of visual and auditory stimuli and were tasked with simultaneously monitoring for targets in each modality. Visual and auditory targets could be preceded by a lateralized visual distractor that either did, or did not, possess the target-defining feature (a specific color). In agreement with the contingent capture hypothesis, target-colored distractors interfered with visual detection performance (response time and accuracy) more than distractors that did not possess the target color. Importantly, the same pattern of results was obtained for the auditory task: visual target-colored distractors interfered with sound detection. The decrement in auditory performance following a target-colored distractor suggests that contingent capture involves a source of processing interference in addition to that caused by a spatial shift of attention. Specifically, we argue that distractors possessing the target-defining characteristic enter a capacity-limited, serial stage of neural processing, which delays detection of subsequently presented stimuli regardless of the sensory modality.

  9. Contingent capture of involuntary visual attention interferes with detection of auditory stimuli

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marc R. Kamke

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The involuntary capture of attention by salient visual stimuli can be influenced by the behavioral goals of an observer. For example, when searching for a target item, irrelevant items that possess the target-defining characteristic capture attention more strongly than items not possessing that feature. Such contingent capture involves a shift of spatial attention toward the item with the target-defining characteristic. It is not clear, however, if the associated decrements in performance for detecting the target item are entirely due to involuntary orienting of spatial attention. To investigate whether contingent capture also involves a non-spatial interference, adult observers were presented with streams of visual and auditory stimuli and were tasked with simultaneously monitoring for targets in each modality. Visual and auditory targets could be preceded by a lateralized visual distractor that either did, or did not, possess the target-defining feature (a specific color. In agreement with the contingent capture hypothesis, target-colored distractors interfered with visual detection performance (response time and accuracy more than distractors that did not possess the target color. Importantly, the same pattern of results was obtained for the auditory task: visual target-colored distractors interfered with sound detection. The decrement in auditory performance following a target-colored distractor suggests that contingent capture involves a source of processing interference in addition to that caused by a spatial shift of attention. Specifically, we argue that distractors possessing the target-defining characteristic enter a capacity-limited, serial stage of neural processing, which delays detection of subsequently presented stimuli regardless of the sensory modality.

  10. Chromatic illumination discrimination ability reveals that human colour constancy is optimised for blue daylight illuminations.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bradley Pearce

    Full Text Available The phenomenon of colour constancy in human visual perception keeps surface colours constant, despite changes in their reflected light due to changing illumination. Although colour constancy has evolved under a constrained subset of illuminations, it is unknown whether its underlying mechanisms, thought to involve multiple components from retina to cortex, are optimised for particular environmental variations. Here we demonstrate a new method for investigating colour constancy using illumination matching in real scenes which, unlike previous methods using surface matching and simulated scenes, allows testing of multiple, real illuminations. We use real scenes consisting of solid familiar or unfamiliar objects against uniform or variegated backgrounds and compare discrimination performance for typical illuminations from the daylight chromaticity locus (approximately blue-yellow and atypical spectra from an orthogonal locus (approximately red-green, at correlated colour temperature 6700 K, all produced in real time by a 10-channel LED illuminator. We find that discrimination of illumination changes is poorer along the daylight locus than the atypical locus, and is poorest particularly for bluer illumination changes, demonstrating conversely that surface colour constancy is best for blue daylight illuminations. Illumination discrimination is also enhanced, and therefore colour constancy diminished, for uniform backgrounds, irrespective of the object type. These results are not explained by statistical properties of the scene signal changes at the retinal level. We conclude that high-level mechanisms of colour constancy are biased for the blue daylight illuminations and variegated backgrounds to which the human visual system has typically been exposed.

  11. CT of the external auditory canal: Correlation with clinical otoscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shankar, L.; Hawke, M.; Leekam, R.N.

    1987-01-01

    CT is the modality of choice in the assessment of external auditory canal abnormalities. Disorders of the complex structures within the ear that may be difficult to define clinically are well visualized on high-resolution CT. This exhibit illustrates various external auditory canal abnormalities and correlates these with color illustrations from clinical otoscopy. Congenital lesions of the external auditory canal - microtia, temporo-bandibular joint herniation, and fistulas - and various acquired lesions - traumatic, inflammatory, and neoplastic - are reviewed in this exhibit

  12. Order Effects in Children's Gender-Constancy Responses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siegal, Michael; Robinson, Judith

    1987-01-01

    Study examines the Slaby and Frey (1975) gender-constancy interview, which has been widely used in tests of the cognitive-developmental account. Sixty children, aged between 42 and 54 months, were given the interview either in the traditional order or in a reversed order. Order effects were found. Methodological issues are discussed. (Author/BN)

  13. Cross-modal attention influences auditory contrast sensitivity: Decreasing visual load improves auditory thresholds for amplitude- and frequency-modulated sounds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciaramitaro, Vivian M; Chow, Hiu Mei; Eglington, Luke G

    2017-03-01

    We used a cross-modal dual task to examine how changing visual-task demands influenced auditory processing, namely auditory thresholds for amplitude- and frequency-modulated sounds. Observers had to attend to two consecutive intervals of sounds and report which interval contained the auditory stimulus that was modulated in amplitude (Experiment 1) or frequency (Experiment 2). During auditory-stimulus presentation, observers simultaneously attended to a rapid sequential visual presentation-two consecutive intervals of streams of visual letters-and had to report which interval contained a particular color (low load, demanding less attentional resources) or, in separate blocks of trials, which interval contained more of a target letter (high load, demanding more attentional resources). We hypothesized that if attention is a shared resource across vision and audition, an easier visual task should free up more attentional resources for auditory processing on an unrelated task, hence improving auditory thresholds. Auditory detection thresholds were lower-that is, auditory sensitivity was improved-for both amplitude- and frequency-modulated sounds when observers engaged in a less demanding (compared to a more demanding) visual task. In accord with previous work, our findings suggest that visual-task demands can influence the processing of auditory information on an unrelated concurrent task, providing support for shared attentional resources. More importantly, our results suggest that attending to information in a different modality, cross-modal attention, can influence basic auditory contrast sensitivity functions, highlighting potential similarities between basic mechanisms for visual and auditory attention.

  14. Constance D'Arcy Mackay: A Historiographical Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van de Water, Manon

    1995-01-01

    States that Constance D'Arcy Mackay was instrumental in defining the genre of children's theater in the early 20th century. Discusses her career highlights. Concludes that Mackay played a pivotal role in the "making" of the history of children's theater in the United States, and that while little of her personal history is known, her…

  15. Number of perceptually distinct surface colors in natural scenes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marín-Franch, Iván; Foster, David H

    2010-09-30

    The ability to perceptually identify distinct surfaces in natural scenes by virtue of their color depends not only on the relative frequency of surface colors but also on the probabilistic nature of observer judgments. Previous methods of estimating the number of discriminable surface colors, whether based on theoretical color gamuts or recorded from real scenes, have taken a deterministic approach. Thus, a three-dimensional representation of the gamut of colors is divided into elementary cells or points which are spaced at one discrimination-threshold unit intervals and which are then counted. In this study, information-theoretic methods were used to take into account both differing surface-color frequencies and observer response uncertainty. Spectral radiances were calculated from 50 hyperspectral images of natural scenes and were represented in a perceptually almost uniform color space. The average number of perceptually distinct surface colors was estimated as 7.3 × 10(3), much smaller than that based on counting methods. This number is also much smaller than the number of distinct points in a scene that are, in principle, available for reliable identification under illuminant changes, suggesting that color constancy, or the lack of it, does not generally determine the limit on the use of color for surface identification.

  16. Spatial imaging in color and HDR: prometheus unchained

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCann, John J.

    2013-03-01

    The Human Vision and Electronic Imaging Conferences (HVEI) at the IS and T/SPIE Electronic Imaging meetings have brought together research in the fundamentals of both vision and digital technology. This conference has incorporated many color disciplines that have contributed to the theory and practice of today's imaging: color constancy, models of vision, digital output, high-dynamic-range imaging, and the understanding of perceptual mechanisms. Before digital imaging, silver halide color was a pixel-based mechanism. Color films are closely tied to colorimetry, the science of matching pixels in a black surround. The quanta catch of the sensitized silver salts determines the amount of colored dyes in the final print. The rapid expansion of digital imaging over the past 25 years has eliminated the limitations of using small local regions in forming images. Spatial interactions can now generate images more like vision. Since the 1950's, neurophysiology has shown that post-receptor neural processing is based on spatial interactions. These results reinforced the findings of 19th century experimental psychology. This paper reviews the role of HVEI in color, emphasizing the interaction of research on vision and the new algorithms and processes made possible by electronic imaging.

  17. Comparisons of memory for nonverbal auditory and visual sequential stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McFarland, D J; Cacace, A T

    1995-01-01

    Properties of auditory and visual sensory memory were compared by examining subjects' recognition performance of randomly generated binary auditory sequential frequency patterns and binary visual sequential color patterns within a forced-choice paradigm. Experiment 1 demonstrated serial-position effects in auditory and visual modalities consisting of both primacy and recency effects. Experiment 2 found that retention of auditory and visual information was remarkably similar when assessed across a 10s interval. Experiments 3 and 4, taken together, showed that the recency effect in sensory memory is affected more by the type of response required (recognition vs. reproduction) than by the sensory modality employed. These studies suggest that auditory and visual sensory memory stores for nonverbal stimuli share similar properties with respect to serial-position effects and persistence over time.

  18. A new colour constancy algorithm based on automatic determination ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Another well-known approach in colour constancy is based on Gray-Edge hypothesis ..... where x is the edge responses in a single colour channel, C is normalization ..... on SFU Gray-Ball data set as well as the results of the Wilcoxon Sign.

  19. Spatial and temporal aspects of chromatic adaptation and their functional significance for colour constancy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Werner, Annette

    2014-11-01

    Illumination in natural scenes changes at multiple temporal and spatial scales: slow changes in global illumination occur in the course of a day, and we encounter fast and localised illumination changes when visually exploring the non-uniform light field of three-dimensional scenes; in addition, very long-term chromatic variations may come from the environment, like for example seasonal changes. In this context, I consider the temporal and spatial properties of chromatic adaptation and discuss their functional significance for colour constancy in three-dimensional scenes. A process of fast spatial tuning in chromatic adaptation is proposed as a possible sensory mechanism for linking colour constancy to the spatial structure of a scene. The observed middlewavelength selectivity of this process is particularly suitable for adaptation to the mean chromaticity and the compensation of interreflections in natural scenes. Two types of sensory colour constancy are distinguished, based on the functional differences of their temporal and spatial scales: a slow type, operating at a global scale for the compensation of the ambient illumination; and a fast colour constancy, which is locally restricted and well suited to compensate region-specific variations in the light field of three dimensional scenes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. The LAC Test: A New Look at Auditory Conceptualization and Literacy Development K-12.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindamood, Charles; And Others

    The Lindamood Auditory Conceptualization (LAC) Test was constructed with the recognition that the process of decoding involves an integration of the auditory, visual, and motor senses. Requiring the manipulation of colored blocks to indicate conceptualization of test patterns spoken by the examiner, subtest 1 entails coding of identity, number,…

  1. The role of size constancy for the integration of local elements into a global shape

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Johannes eRennig

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Visual perception depends on the visual context and is likely to be influenced by size constancy, which predicts a size and distance invariant perception of objects. However, size constancy can also result in optical illusions that allow the manipulation of the perceived size. We thus asked whether the integration of local elements into a global object can be influenced by manipulations of the visual context and size constancy? A set of stimuli was applied in healthy individuals that took advantage of the ‘Kanizsa’ illusion, in which three circles with open wedges oriented towards a center point are placed to form an illusionary perception of a triangle. In addition, a 3D-perspective view was implemented in which the global target (‘Kanizsa’ triangle was placed in combination with several distractor circles either in a close or a distant position. Subjects were engaged in a global recognition task on the location of the ‘Kanizsa’ triangle. Global recognition of ‘Kanizsa’ triangles improved with a decreasing length of the illusory contour. Interestingly, recognition of ‘Kanizsa’ triangles decreased when they were perceived as if they were located further away. We conclude that the integration of local elements into a global object is dependent on the visual context and dominated by size constancy.

  2. An evolutionary approach for colour constancy based on gamut ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Many colour constancy algorithms have been proposed to achieve a good performance in this field. The gamut mapping algorithm is one of the most accurate and promising algorithms based on gamut assumption: illuminant can be estimated by comparing the colours distribution in the current image to acanonical gamut ...

  3. Effects of auditory and visual modalities in recall of words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gadzella, B M; Whitehead, D A

    1975-02-01

    Ten experimental conditions were used to study the effects of auditory and visual (printed words, uncolored and colored pictures) modalities and their various combinations with college students. A recall paradigm was employed in which subjects responded in a written test. Analysis of data showed the auditory modality was superior to visual (pictures) ones but was not significantly different from visual (printed words) modality. In visual modalities, printed words were superior to colored pictures. Generally, conditions with multiple modes of representation of stimuli were significantly higher than for conditions with single modes. Multiple modalities, consisting of two or three modes, did not differ significantly from each other. It was concluded that any two modalities of the stimuli presented simultaneously were just as effective as three in recall of stimulus words.

  4. Universal Trade-Off between Power, Efficiency, and Constancy in Steady-State Heat Engines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pietzonka, Patrick; Seifert, Udo

    2018-05-01

    Heat engines should ideally have large power output, operate close to Carnot efficiency and show constancy, i.e., exhibit only small fluctuations in this output. For steady-state heat engines, driven by a constant temperature difference between the two heat baths, we prove that out of these three requirements only two are compatible. Constancy enters quantitatively the conventional trade-off between power and efficiency. Thus, we rationalize and unify recent suggestions for overcoming this simple trade-off. Our universal bound is illustrated for a paradigmatic model of a quantum dot solar cell and for a Brownian gyrator delivering mechanical work against an external force.

  5. Gender Constancy and the Effects of Sex-typed Televised Toy Commercials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruble, Diane N.; And Others

    1981-01-01

    Presents a cognitive-developmental analysis of the effects of televised, sex-stereotypic information on children's behavior and attitudes towards toy play. Subjects were 100 children, ages four to six divided into groups exhibiting high and low gender-constancy. (Author/CM)

  6. Audio-Visual Cross-Modal Association in Color and Sound Perception

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tomoaki Nakamura

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Previous studies have shown that a similar straightforward relationship exists between lightness and pitch in synaesthetes and nonsynaesthetes (Mark, 1974; Hubbard, 1996; Ward et al., 2006. These results indicated that nonsynaesthetes have similar lightness-pitch mapping with synaesthetes. However, in their experimental paradigm such a similarity seems to stem from not so much sensory phenomena as high-level memory associations in nonsynaesthetes. So, we examined what process in perception and/or cognition relates lightness-pitch synaesthesia-like phenomena in nonsynaethetes. In our study we targeted perceived colors (luminance per se rather than the imagery of color (luminance via memory association. Results indicated that the performance in color selection were affected by task-irrelevant stimuli (auditory information, but there was little significant correlation between color and auditory stimuli (pitch in simple color conditions. However, in subjective figures conditions, results showed a different tendency and partly showed correlations. Recent work indicates synaesthesia needs selective attention (Rich et al., 2010 and some research shows perception of subjective contours need attention (Gurnsey, 1996. We conjecture that lightness-pitch synaesthesia-like phenomena may need some kind of attention or the other higher brain activity (eg, memory association, cognition.

  7. Development of phonological constancy: 19-month-olds, but not 15-month-olds, identify words in a non-native regional accent.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mulak, Karen E; Best, Catherine T; Tyler, Michael D; Kitamura, Christine; Irwin, Julia R

    2013-01-01

    By 12 months, children grasp that a phonetic change to a word can change its identity (phonological distinctiveness). However, they must also grasp that some phonetic changes do not (phonological constancy). To test development of phonological constancy, sixteen 15-month-olds and sixteen 19-month-olds completed an eye-tracking task that tracked their gaze to named versus unnamed images for familiar words spoken in their native (Australian) and an unfamiliar non-native (Jamaican) regional accent of English. Both groups looked longer at named than unnamed images for Australian pronunciations, but only 19-month-olds did so for Jamaican pronunciations, indicating that phonological constancy emerges by 19 months. Vocabulary size predicted 15-month-olds' identifications for the Jamaican pronunciations, suggesting vocabulary growth is a viable predictor for phonological constancy development. © 2013 The Authors. Child Development © 2013 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

  8. Size Constancy Is Preserved but Afterimages Are Prolonged in Typical Individuals with Higher Degrees of Self-Reported Autistic Traits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sperandio, Irene; Unwin, Katy L.; Landry, Oriane; Chouinard, Philippe A.

    2017-01-01

    Deficits in perceptual constancies from early infancy have been proposed to contribute to autism and exacerbate its symptoms (Hellendoorn et al., "Frontiers in Psychology" 6:1-16, 2015). Here, we examined size constancy in adults from the general population (N = 106) with different levels of self-reported autistic traits using an…

  9. The Relationship among Localization Skill, Existence Constancy and Object Permanence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Townes-Rosenwein, Linda

    Two component skills of object permanence were studied: existence constancy -- the infants' ability to expect that an object continues to exist after it is hidden, and localization skill -- infants' ability to search in the correct place for a hidden object. Contradictions within the literature may occur because of task lability caused by failure…

  10. S3-2: Colorfulness Perception Adapting to Natural Scenes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yoko Mizokami

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Our visual system has the ability to adapt to the color characteristics of environment and maintain stable color appearance. Many researches on chromatic adaptation and color constancy suggested that the different levels of visual processes involve the adaptation mechanism. In the case of colorfulness perception, it has been shown that the perception changes with adaptation to chromatic contrast modulation and to surrounding chromatic variance. However, it is still not clear how the perception changes in natural scenes and what levels of visual mechanisms contribute to the perception. Here, I will mainly present our recent work on colorfulness-adaptation in natural images. In the experiment, we examined whether the colorfulness perception of an image was influenced by the adaptation to natural images with different degrees of saturation. Natural and unnatural (shuffled or phase-scrambled images are used for adapting and test images, and all combinations of adapting and test images were tested (e.g., the combination of natural adapting images and a shuffled test image. The results show that colorfulness perception was influenced by adaptation to the saturation of images. A test image appeared less colorful after adaptation to saturated images, and vice versa. The effect of colorfulness adaptation was the strongest for the combination of natural adapting and natural test images. The fact that the naturalness of the spatial structure in an image affects the strength of the adaptation effect implies that the recognition of natural scene would play an important role in the adaptation mechanism.

  11. Color appearance of familiar objects: effects of object shape, texture, and illumination changes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olkkonen, Maria; Hansen, Thorsten; Gegenfurtner, Karl R

    2008-05-26

    People perceive roughly constant surface colors despite large changes in illumination. The familiarity of colors of some natural objects might help achieve this feat through direct modulation of the objects' color appearance. Research on memory colors and color appearance has yielded controversial results and due to the employed methods has often confounded perceptual with semantic effects. We studied the effect of memory colors on color appearance by presenting photographs of fruit on a monitor under various simulated illuminations and by asking observers to make either achromatic or typical color settings without placing demands on short-term memory or semantic processing. In a control condition, we presented photographs of 3D fruit shapes without texture and 2D outline shapes. We found that (1) achromatic settings for fruit were systematically biased away from the gray point toward the opposite direction of a fruit's memory color; (2) the strength of the effect depended on the degree of naturalness of the stimuli; and (3) the effect was evident under all tested illuminations, being strongest for illuminations whose chromaticity was closest to the stimulus chromaticity. We conclude that the visual identity of an object has a measurable effect on color perception, and that this effect is robust under illuminant changes, indicating its potential significance as an additional mechanism for color constancy.

  12. Color in Image and Video Processing: Most Recent Trends and Future Research Directions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tominaga Shoji

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The motivation of this paper is to provide an overview of the most recent trends and of the future research directions in color image and video processing. Rather than covering all aspects of the domain this survey covers issues related to the most active research areas in the last two years. It presents the most recent trends as well as the state-of-the-art, with a broad survey of the relevant literature, in the main active research areas in color imaging. It also focuses on the most promising research areas in color imaging science. This survey gives an overview about the issues, controversies, and problems of color image science. It focuses on human color vision, perception, and interpretation. It focuses also on acquisition systems, consumer imaging applications, and medical imaging applications. Next it gives a brief overview about the solutions, recommendations, most recent trends, and future trends of color image science. It focuses on color space, appearance models, color difference metrics, and color saliency. It focuses also on color features, color-based object tracking, scene illuminant estimation and color constancy, quality assessment and fidelity assessment, color characterization and calibration of a display device. It focuses on quantization, filtering and enhancement, segmentation, coding and compression, watermarking, and lastly on multispectral color image processing. Lastly, it addresses the research areas which still need addressing and which are the next and future perspectives of color in image and video processing.

  13. Color in Image and Video Processing: Most Recent Trends and Future Research Directions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Konstantinos N. Plataniotis

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available The motivation of this paper is to provide an overview of the most recent trends and of the future research directions in color image and video processing. Rather than covering all aspects of the domain this survey covers issues related to the most active research areas in the last two years. It presents the most recent trends as well as the state-of-the-art, with a broad survey of the relevant literature, in the main active research areas in color imaging. It also focuses on the most promising research areas in color imaging science. This survey gives an overview about the issues, controversies, and problems of color image science. It focuses on human color vision, perception, and interpretation. It focuses also on acquisition systems, consumer imaging applications, and medical imaging applications. Next it gives a brief overview about the solutions, recommendations, most recent trends, and future trends of color image science. It focuses on color space, appearance models, color difference metrics, and color saliency. It focuses also on color features, color-based object tracking, scene illuminant estimation and color constancy, quality assessment and fidelity assessment, color characterization and calibration of a display device. It focuses on quantization, filtering and enhancement, segmentation, coding and compression, watermarking, and lastly on multispectral color image processing. Lastly, it addresses the research areas which still need addressing and which are the next and future perspectives of color in image and video processing.

  14. Constance "Connie" Hanf (1917-2002): The Mentor and the Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reitman, David; McMahon, Robert J.

    2013-01-01

    This article provides an account of the impact of Constance Hanf, Ph.D., developer of the well-known two-stage parent training model that bears her name. Past colleagues, interns, postdoctoral students, and undergraduate trainees reflect on their experiences with Dr. Hanf and comment on her influence on their careers, as well as the impact of the…

  15. Color Constancy Using CNNs

    OpenAIRE

    Bianco, Simone; Cusano, Claudio; Schettini, Raimondo

    2015-01-01

    In this work we describe a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to accurately predict the scene illumination. Taking image patches as input, the CNN works in the spatial domain without using hand-crafted features that are employed by most previous methods. The network consists of one convolutional layer with max pooling, one fully connected layer and three output nodes. Within the network structure, feature learning and regression are integrated into one optimization process, which leads to a m...

  16. Auditory-motor learning influences auditory memory for music.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Rachel M; Palmer, Caroline

    2012-05-01

    In two experiments, we investigated how auditory-motor learning influences performers' memory for music. Skilled pianists learned novel melodies in four conditions: auditory only (listening), motor only (performing without sound), strongly coupled auditory-motor (normal performance), and weakly coupled auditory-motor (performing along with auditory recordings). Pianists' recognition of the learned melodies was better following auditory-only or auditory-motor (weakly coupled and strongly coupled) learning than following motor-only learning, and better following strongly coupled auditory-motor learning than following auditory-only learning. Auditory and motor imagery abilities modulated the learning effects: Pianists with high auditory imagery scores had better recognition following motor-only learning, suggesting that auditory imagery compensated for missing auditory feedback at the learning stage. Experiment 2 replicated the findings of Experiment 1 with melodies that contained greater variation in acoustic features. Melodies that were slower and less variable in tempo and intensity were remembered better following weakly coupled auditory-motor learning. These findings suggest that motor learning can aid performers' auditory recognition of music beyond auditory learning alone, and that motor learning is influenced by individual abilities in mental imagery and by variation in acoustic features.

  17. Educational Testing of an Auditory Display of Mars Gamma Ray Spectrometer Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keller, J. M.; Pompea, S. M.; Prather, E. E.; Slater, T. F.; Boynton, W. V.; Enos, H. L.; Quinn, M.

    2003-12-01

    A unique, alternative educational and public outreach product was created to investigate the use and effectiveness of auditory displays in science education. The product, which allows students to both visualize and hear seasonal variations in data detected by the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS) aboard the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, consists of an animation of false-color maps of hydrogen concentrations on Mars along with a musical presentation, or sonification, of the same data. Learners can access this data using the visual false-color animation, the auditory false-pitch sonification, or both. Central to the development of this product is the question of its educational effectiveness and implementation. During the spring 2003 semester, three sections of an introductory astronomy course, each with ˜100 non-science undergraduates, were presented with one of three different exposures to GRS hydrogen data: one auditory, one visual, and one both auditory and visual. Student achievement data was collected through use of multiple-choice and open-ended surveys administered before, immediately following, and three and six weeks following the experiment. It was found that the three student groups performed equally well in their ability to perceive and interpret the data presented. Additionally, student groups exposed to the auditory display reported a higher interest and engagement level than the student group exposed to the visual data alone. Based upon this preliminary testing,we have made improvements to both the educational product and our evaluation protocol. This fall, we will conduct further testing with ˜100 additional students, half receiving auditory data and half receiving visual data, and we will conduct interviews with individual students as they interface with the auditory display. Through this process, we hope to further assess both learning and engagement gains associated with alternative and multi-modal representations of scientific data that extend beyond

  18. Colour Constancy Beyond the Classical Receptive Field.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akbarinia, Arash; Parraga, C Alejandro

    2017-09-18

    The problem of removing illuminant variations to preserve the colours of objects (colour constancy) has already been solved by the human brain using mechanisms that rely largely on centre-surround computations of local contrast. In this paper we adopt some of these biological solutions described by long known physiological findings into a simple, fully automatic, functional model (termed Adaptive Surround Modulation or ASM). In ASM, the size of a visual neuron's receptive field (RF) as well as the relationship with its surround varies according to the local contrast within the stimulus, which in turn determines the nature of the centre-surround normalisation of cortical neurons higher up in the processing chain. We modelled colour constancy by means of two overlapping asymmetric Gaussian kernels whose sizes are adapted based on the contrast of the surround pixels, resembling the change of RF size. We simulated the contrast-dependent surround modulation by weighting the contribution of each Gaussian according to the centre-surround contrast. In the end, we obtained an estimation of the illuminant from the set of the most activated RFs' outputs. Our results on three single-illuminant and one multi-illuminant benchmark datasets show that ASM is highly competitive against the state-of-the-art and it even outperforms learning-based algorithms in one case. Moreover, the robustness of our model is more tangible if we consider that our results were obtained using the same parameters for all datasets, that is, mimicking how the human visual system operates. These results might provide an insight on how dynamical adaptation mechanisms contribute to make object's colours appear constant to us.

  19. Israeli Kindergarten Children's Gender Constancy for Others' Counter-Stereotypic Toy Play and Appearance: The Role of Sibling Gender and Relative Age

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karniol, Rachel

    2009-01-01

    To test divergent theoretical predictions as to the impact of having a younger or older, same-sex sibling or opposite-sex sibling on other gender constancy, Israeli kindergarten children in two-child families responded to a gender constancy task in which a male and female picture target engaged in counter-stereotypic toy play and adopted…

  20. 3D simulation of the influence of internal mixing dynamics on the propagation of river plumes in Lake Constance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pflugbeil, Thomas; Pöschke, Franziska; Noffke, Anna; Winde, Vera; Wolf, Thomas

    2017-04-01

    Lake Constance is one of most important drinking water resources in southern Germany. Furthermore, the lake and its catchment is a meaningful natural habitat as well as economical and cultural area. In this context, sustainable development and conservation of the lake ecosystem and drinking water quality is of high importance. However, anthropogenic pressures (e.g. waste water, land use, industry in catchment area) on the lake itself and its external inflows are high. The project "SeeZeichen" (ReWaM-project cluster by BMBF, funding number 02WRM1365) is investigating different immission pathways (groundwater, river, superficial inputs) and their impact on the water quality of Lake Constance. The investigation includes the direct inflow areas as well as the lake-wide context. The present simulation study investigates the mixing dynamics of Lake Constance and its impacts on river inflows and vice versa. It considers different seasonal (mixing and stratification periods), hydrological (flood events, average and low discharge) and transport conditions (sediment loads). The simulations are focused on two rivers: The River Alpenrhein delivers about 60 % of water and material input into Lake Constance. The River Schussen was chosen since it is highly anthropogenic influenced. For this purpose, a high-resolution three-dimensional hydrodynamic model of the Lake Constance is set up with Delft3D-Flow model system. The model is calibrated and validated with long term data sets of water levels, discharges and temperatures. The model results will be analysed for residence times of river water within the lake and particle distributions to evaluate potential impacts of river plume water constituents on the general water quality of the lake.

  1. Constancy tests and quality assurance of the activimeters used in a radiopharmaceutical production unit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gontijo, Rodrigo M.G.; Mamede, Marcelo; Ferreira, Andréa V.; Nascimento, Leonardo T.C.; Costa, Flávia M.; Silva, Juliana B.

    2017-01-01

    Activimeters (or dose calibrators) are essential instruments to verify activity of radiopharmaceutical after production and also before the dose administration in humans or animals for molecular imaging. The efficiency and safety measurements depend on, beside other factors, constancy tests and quality assurance. Thereby, the aim of this work was to perform constancy tests and quality assurance in the activimeters of the UPPR/CDTN, based on the CNEN-NN 3.05 Brazilian standard and the manufacturer's manual. Physical inspection, auto zero, background check, camera voltage, data check and constancy test were done. In addition, accuracy and precision tests were performed using a set of standard certified radioactive sources ( 57 Co, 133 Ba and 137 Cs), according to the CNEN NN 3.05 Brazilian standard. Linearity test was also performed to evaluate the response of the equipment in over the entire range of activities used in routine. The equipment are periodically submitted to the quality control tests and the results were compared. After performing the proposed tests it is possible to conclude that activimeters are in accordance with the requirements of the CNEN standard and manufacturer's manual. A quality control checklist was prepared to guide users and to record the results of quality assurance testing to monitor the equipment performance. This initiative is part of the quality assurance program implemented at UPPR. (author)

  2. Constancy tests and quality assurance of the activimeters used in a radiopharmaceutical production unit

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gontijo, Rodrigo M.G.; Mamede, Marcelo [Centro de Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia Nuclear (CDTN/CNEN-MG), Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil); Ferreira, Andréa V.; Nascimento, Leonardo T.C.; Costa, Flávia M.; Silva, Juliana B., E-mail: rodrigo.gontijo@cdtn.br, E-mail: mamede.mm@gmail.com [Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (IMA/FM/UFMG), Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil). Departamento de Anatomia e Imagem

    2017-07-01

    Activimeters (or dose calibrators) are essential instruments to verify activity of radiopharmaceutical after production and also before the dose administration in humans or animals for molecular imaging. The efficiency and safety measurements depend on, beside other factors, constancy tests and quality assurance. Thereby, the aim of this work was to perform constancy tests and quality assurance in the activimeters of the UPPR/CDTN, based on the CNEN-NN 3.05 Brazilian standard and the manufacturer's manual. Physical inspection, auto zero, background check, camera voltage, data check and constancy test were done. In addition, accuracy and precision tests were performed using a set of standard certified radioactive sources ({sup 57}Co, {sup 133}Ba and {sup 137}Cs), according to the CNEN NN 3.05 Brazilian standard. Linearity test was also performed to evaluate the response of the equipment in over the entire range of activities used in routine. The equipment are periodically submitted to the quality control tests and the results were compared. After performing the proposed tests it is possible to conclude that activimeters are in accordance with the requirements of the CNEN standard and manufacturer's manual. A quality control checklist was prepared to guide users and to record the results of quality assurance testing to monitor the equipment performance. This initiative is part of the quality assurance program implemented at UPPR. (author)

  3. An optical flow algorithm based on gradient constancy assumption for PIV image processing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhong, Qianglong; Yang, Hua; Yin, Zhouping

    2017-01-01

    Particle image velocimetry (PIV) has matured as a flow measurement technique. It enables the description of the instantaneous velocity field of the flow by analyzing the particle motion obtained from digitally recorded images. Correlation based PIV evaluation technique is widely used because of its good accuracy and robustness. Although very successful, correlation PIV technique has some weakness which can be avoided by optical flow based PIV algorithms. At present, most of the optical flow methods applied to PIV are based on brightness constancy assumption. However, some factors of flow imaging technology and the nature property of the fluids make the brightness constancy assumption less appropriate in real PIV cases. In this paper, an implementation of a 2D optical flow algorithm (GCOF) based on gradient constancy assumption is introduced. The proposed GCOF assumes the edges of the illuminated PIV particles are constant during motion. It comprises two terms: a combined local-global gradient data term and a first-order divergence and vorticity smooth term. The approach can provide accurate dense motion fields. The approach are tested on synthetic images and on two experimental flows. The comparison of GCOF with other optical flow algorithms indicates the proposed method is more accurate especially in conditions of illumination variation. The comparison of GCOF with correlation PIV technique shows that the proposed GCOF has advantages on preserving small divergence and vorticity structures of the motion field and getting less outliers. As a consequence, the GCOF acquire a more accurate and better topological description of the turbulent flow. (paper)

  4. New experimental diffractive-optical data on E.Land's Retinex mechanism in human color vision: Part II

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lauinger, N.

    2007-09-01

    A better understanding of the color constancy mechanism in human color vision [7] can be reached through analyses of photometric data of all illuminants and patches (Mondrians or other visible objects) involved in visual experiments. In Part I [3] and in [4, 5 and 6] the integration in the human eye of the geometrical-optical imaging hardware and the diffractive-optical hardware has been described and illustrated (Fig.1). This combined hardware represents the main topic of the NAMIROS research project (nano- and micro- 3D gratings for optical sensors) [8] promoted and coordinated by Corrsys 3D Sensors AG. The hardware relevant to (photopic) human color vision can be described as a diffractive or interference-optical correlator transforming incident light into diffractive-optical RGB data and relating local RGB onto global RGB data in the near-field behind the 'inverted' human retina. The relative differences at local/global RGB interference-optical contrasts are available to photoreceptors (cones and rods) only after this optical pre-processing.

  5. Auditory agnosia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slevc, L Robert; Shell, Alison R

    2015-01-01

    Auditory agnosia refers to impairments in sound perception and identification despite intact hearing, cognitive functioning, and language abilities (reading, writing, and speaking). Auditory agnosia can be general, affecting all types of sound perception, or can be (relatively) specific to a particular domain. Verbal auditory agnosia (also known as (pure) word deafness) refers to deficits specific to speech processing, environmental sound agnosia refers to difficulties confined to non-speech environmental sounds, and amusia refers to deficits confined to music. These deficits can be apperceptive, affecting basic perceptual processes, or associative, affecting the relation of a perceived auditory object to its meaning. This chapter discusses what is known about the behavioral symptoms and lesion correlates of these different types of auditory agnosia (focusing especially on verbal auditory agnosia), evidence for the role of a rapid temporal processing deficit in some aspects of auditory agnosia, and the few attempts to treat the perceptual deficits associated with auditory agnosia. A clear picture of auditory agnosia has been slow to emerge, hampered by the considerable heterogeneity in behavioral deficits, associated brain damage, and variable assessments across cases. Despite this lack of clarity, these striking deficits in complex sound processing continue to inform our understanding of auditory perception and cognition. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. A loudspeaker-based room auralization system for auditory research

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Favrot, Sylvain Emmanuel

    to systematically study the signal processing of realistic sounds by normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners, a flexible, reproducible and fully controllable auditory environment is needed. A loudspeaker-based room auralization (LoRA) system was developed in this thesis to provide virtual auditory...... in reverberant environments. Each part of the early incoming sound to the listener was auralized with either higher-order Ambisonic (HOA) or using a single loudspeaker. The late incoming sound was auralized with a specific algorithm in order to provide a diffuse reverberation with minimal coloration artifacts...... assessed the impact of the auralization technique used for the early incoming sound (HOA or single loudspeaker) on speech intelligibility. A listening test showed that speech intelligibility experiments can be reliably conducted with the LoRA system with both techniques. The second evaluation investigated...

  7. Influence of gender constancy and social power on sex-linked modeling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bussey, K; Bandura, A

    1984-12-01

    Competing predictions derived from cognitive-developmental theory and social learning theory concerning sex-linked modeling were tested. In cognitive-developmental theory, gender constancy is considered a necessary prerequisite for the emulation of same-sex models, whereas according to social learning theory, sex-role development is promoted through a vast system of social influences with modeling serving as a major conveyor of sex role information. In accord with social learning theory, even children at a lower level of gender conception emulated same-sex models in preference to opposite-sex ones. Level of gender constancy was associated with higher emulation of both male and female models rather than operating as a selective determinant of modeling. This finding corroborates modeling as a basic mechanism in the sex-typing process. In a second experiment we explored the limits of same-sex modeling by pitting social power against the force of collective modeling of different patterns of behavior by male and female models. Social power over activities and rewarding resources produced cross-sex modeling in boys, but not in girls. This unexpected pattern of cross-sex modeling is explained by the differential sex-typing pressures that exist for boys and girls and socialization experiences that heighten the attractiveness of social power for boys.

  8. A Large Catalog of Multiwavelength GRB Afterglows. I. Color Evolution and Its Physical Implication

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Liang; Wang, Yu; Shao, Lang; Wu, Xue-Feng; Huang, Yong-Feng; Zhang, Bing; Ryde, Felix; Yu, Hoi-Fung

    2018-02-01

    The spectrum of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows can be studied with color indices. Here, we present a large comprehensive catalog of 70 GRBs with multiwavelength optical transient data on which we perform a systematic study to find the temporal evolution of color indices. We categorize them into two samples based on how well the color indices are evaluated. The Golden sample includes 25 bursts mostly observed by GROND, and the Silver sample includes 45 bursts observed by other telescopes. For the Golden sample, we find that 96% of the color indices do not vary over time. However, the color indices do vary during short periods in most bursts. The observed variations are consistent with effects of (i) the cooling frequency crossing the studied energy bands in a wind medium (43%) and in a constant-density medium (30%), (ii) early dust extinction (12%), (iii) transition from reverse-shock to forward-shock emission (5%), or (iv) an emergent SN emission (10%). We also study the evolutionary properties of the mean color indices for different emission episodes. We find that 86% of the color indices in the 70 bursts show constancy between consecutive ones. The color index variations occur mainly during the late GRB–SN bump, the flare, and early reverse-shock emission components. We further perform a statistical analysis of various observational properties and model parameters (spectral index {β }o{CI}, electron spectral indices p CI, etc.) using color indices. Overall, we conclude that ∼90% of colors are constant in time and can be accounted for by the simplest external forward-shock model, while the varying color indices call for more detailed modeling.

  9. Color improves ‘visual’ acuity via sound

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shelly eLevy-Tzedek

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Visual-to-auditory sensory substitution devices (SSDs convey visual information via sound, with the primary goal of making visual information accessible to blind and visually impaired individuals. We developed the EyeMusic SSD, which transforms shape, location and color information into musical notes. We tested the 'visual' acuity of 23 individuals (13 blind and 10 blindfolded sighted on the Snellen tumbling-E test, with the EyeMusic. Participants were asked to determine the orientation of the letter ‘E’. The test was repeated twice: in one test, the letter ‘E’ was drawn with a single color (white, and in the other test, with two colors (red and white. In the latter case, the vertical line in the letter, when upright, was drawn in red, with the three horizontal lines drawn in white. We found no significant differences in performance between the blind and the sighted groups. We found a significant effect of the added color on the ‘visual’ acuity. The highest acuity participants reached in the monochromatic test was 20/800, whereas with the added color, acuity doubled to 20/400. We conclude that color improves 'visual' acuity via sound.

  10. Auditory and audio-visual processing in patients with cochlear, auditory brainstem, and auditory midbrain implants: An EEG study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schierholz, Irina; Finke, Mareike; Kral, Andrej; Büchner, Andreas; Rach, Stefan; Lenarz, Thomas; Dengler, Reinhard; Sandmann, Pascale

    2017-04-01

    There is substantial variability in speech recognition ability across patients with cochlear implants (CIs), auditory brainstem implants (ABIs), and auditory midbrain implants (AMIs). To better understand how this variability is related to central processing differences, the current electroencephalography (EEG) study compared hearing abilities and auditory-cortex activation in patients with electrical stimulation at different sites of the auditory pathway. Three different groups of patients with auditory implants (Hannover Medical School; ABI: n = 6, CI: n = 6; AMI: n = 2) performed a speeded response task and a speech recognition test with auditory, visual, and audio-visual stimuli. Behavioral performance and cortical processing of auditory and audio-visual stimuli were compared between groups. ABI and AMI patients showed prolonged response times on auditory and audio-visual stimuli compared with NH listeners and CI patients. This was confirmed by prolonged N1 latencies and reduced N1 amplitudes in ABI and AMI patients. However, patients with central auditory implants showed a remarkable gain in performance when visual and auditory input was combined, in both speech and non-speech conditions, which was reflected by a strong visual modulation of auditory-cortex activation in these individuals. In sum, the results suggest that the behavioral improvement for audio-visual conditions in central auditory implant patients is based on enhanced audio-visual interactions in the auditory cortex. Their findings may provide important implications for the optimization of electrical stimulation and rehabilitation strategies in patients with central auditory prostheses. Hum Brain Mapp 38:2206-2225, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  11. Short-term memory digit-span performance under auditory and visual contexts as a function of rate of digit presentation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vitulli, W F; McNeil, M J

    1990-12-01

    This exploratory investigation concerned the effects of both auditory and visual context variations on the immediate recall of a series of digits presented on a computer screen (CRT). 5 intensities of background noise and 5 background hues were presented randomly to 110 undergraduate volunteers as they studied 25 numerals ranging from 1 to 5 at rates of change of either 1 or 3 sec. per numeral timed from the onset of the previous numeral. A 2 x 2 x 5 mixed split-plot factorial analysis of variance gave a significant difference in mean immediate-recall scores between rates of digit presentation with better recall associated with the 3-sec. rate. There was no significant main effect in recall scores for auditory vs color contexts, yet a post hoc analysis of variance for successive stages followed by Scheffé comparisons showed that across auditory intensities, Stages 3 and 4 and 5 (combined) had significantly higher immediate recall scores than Stages 1 and 2 (combined). This improvement across stages was not found under the visual (color) series. There was a three-way interaction for modality-contexts x rates x levels explained by the partitioning of stages which differed for auditory and for visual contexts. Results are discussed in terms of effects of modality.

  12. Auditory Reserve and the Legacy of Auditory Experience

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erika Skoe

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Musical training during childhood has been linked to more robust encoding of sound later in life. We take this as evidence for an auditory reserve: a mechanism by which individuals capitalize on earlier life experiences to promote auditory processing. We assert that early auditory experiences guide how the reserve develops and is maintained over the lifetime. Experiences that occur after childhood, or which are limited in nature, are theorized to affect the reserve, although their influence on sensory processing may be less long-lasting and may potentially fade over time if not repeated. This auditory reserve may help to explain individual differences in how individuals cope with auditory impoverishment or loss of sensorineural function.

  13. Effects of chromatic image statistics on illumination induced color differences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucassen, Marcel P; Gevers, Theo; Gijsenij, Arjan; Dekker, Niels

    2013-09-01

    We measure the color fidelity of visual scenes that are rendered under different (simulated) illuminants and shown on a calibrated LCD display. Observers make triad illuminant comparisons involving the renderings from two chromatic test illuminants and one achromatic reference illuminant shown simultaneously. Four chromatic test illuminants are used: two along the daylight locus (yellow and blue), and two perpendicular to it (red and green). The observers select the rendering having the best color fidelity, thereby indirectly judging which of the two test illuminants induces the smallest color differences compared to the reference. Both multicolor test scenes and natural scenes are studied. The multicolor scenes are synthesized and represent ellipsoidal distributions in CIELAB chromaticity space having the same mean chromaticity but different chromatic orientations. We show that, for those distributions, color fidelity is best when the vector of the illuminant change (pointing from neutral to chromatic) is parallel to the major axis of the scene's chromatic distribution. For our selection of natural scenes, which generally have much broader chromatic distributions, we measure a higher color fidelity for the yellow and blue illuminants than for red and green. Scrambled versions of the natural images are also studied to exclude possible semantic effects. We quantitatively predict the average observer response (i.e., the illuminant probability) with four types of models, differing in the extent to which they incorporate information processing by the visual system. Results show different levels of performance for the models, and different levels for the multicolor scenes and the natural scenes. Overall, models based on the scene averaged color difference have the best performance. We discuss how color constancy algorithms may be improved by exploiting knowledge of the chromatic distribution of the visual scene.

  14. Genetic diversity and distribution of periphytic Synechococcus spp. in biofilms and picoplankton of Lake Constance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Becker, S.; Singh, A.K.; Postius, C.; Böger, P.; Ernst, A.

    2004-01-01

    In various water depths of the littoral zone of Lake Constance (Bodensee) cyanobacteria of the Synechococcus-type were isolated from biofilms (periphyton) on three natural substrates and an artificial one (unglazed tiles). From one tile three strains of phycoerythrin (PE)-rich Synechococcus spp.

  15. Pilot feasibility study of binaural auditory beats for reducing symptoms of inattention in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kennel, Susan; Taylor, Ann Gill; Lyon, Debra; Bourguignon, Cheryl

    2010-02-01

    The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the potential for the use of binaural auditory beat stimulation to reduce the symptom of inattention in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. This pilot study had a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design. Twenty participants were randomly assigned to listen to either an audio program on compact disk that contained binaural auditory beats or a sham audio program that did not have binaural beats for 20 minutes, three times a week for 3 weeks. The Children's Color Trails Test, the Color Trails Test, the Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA), and the Homework Problem Checklist were used to measure changes in inattention pre- and postintervention. Repeated measures analysis of variance was used to analyze pre- and postintervention scores on the Color Trails Tests, Homework Problem Checklist, and the TOVA. The effect of time was significant on the Color Trails Test. However, there were no significant group differences on the Color Trails Test or the TOVA scores postintervention. Parents reported that the study participants had fewer homework problems postintervention. The results from this study indicate that binaural auditory beat stimulation did not significantly reduce the symptom of inattention in the experimental group. However, parents and adolescents stated that homework problems due to inattention improved during the 3-week study. Parents and participants stated that the modality was easy to use and helpful. Therefore, this modality should be studied over a longer time frame in a larger sample to further its effectiveness to reduce the symptom of inattention in those diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Auditory Perceptual Abilities Are Associated with Specific Auditory Experience

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yael Zaltz

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available The extent to which auditory experience can shape general auditory perceptual abilities is still under constant debate. Some studies show that specific auditory expertise may have a general effect on auditory perceptual abilities, while others show a more limited influence, exhibited only in a relatively narrow range associated with the area of expertise. The current study addresses this issue by examining experience-dependent enhancement in perceptual abilities in the auditory domain. Three experiments were performed. In the first experiment, 12 pop and rock musicians and 15 non-musicians were tested in frequency discrimination (DLF, intensity discrimination, spectrum discrimination (DLS, and time discrimination (DLT. Results showed significant superiority of the musician group only for the DLF and DLT tasks, illuminating enhanced perceptual skills in the key features of pop music, in which miniscule changes in amplitude and spectrum are not critical to performance. The next two experiments attempted to differentiate between generalization and specificity in the influence of auditory experience, by comparing subgroups of specialists. First, seven guitar players and eight percussionists were tested in the DLF and DLT tasks that were found superior for musicians. Results showed superior abilities on the DLF task for guitar players, though no difference between the groups in DLT, demonstrating some dependency of auditory learning on the specific area of expertise. Subsequently, a third experiment was conducted, testing a possible influence of vowel density in native language on auditory perceptual abilities. Ten native speakers of German (a language characterized by a dense vowel system of 14 vowels, and 10 native speakers of Hebrew (characterized by a sparse vowel system of five vowels, were tested in a formant discrimination task. This is the linguistic equivalent of a DLS task. Results showed that German speakers had superior formant

  17. Auditory midbrain processing is differentially modulated by auditory and visual cortices: An auditory fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Patrick P; Zhang, Jevin W; Fan, Shu-Juan; Sanes, Dan H; Wu, Ed X

    2015-12-01

    The cortex contains extensive descending projections, yet the impact of cortical input on brainstem processing remains poorly understood. In the central auditory system, the auditory cortex contains direct and indirect pathways (via brainstem cholinergic cells) to nuclei of the auditory midbrain, called the inferior colliculus (IC). While these projections modulate auditory processing throughout the IC, single neuron recordings have samples from only a small fraction of cells during stimulation of the corticofugal pathway. Furthermore, assessments of cortical feedback have not been extended to sensory modalities other than audition. To address these issues, we devised blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigms to measure the sound-evoked responses throughout the rat IC and investigated the effects of bilateral ablation of either auditory or visual cortices. Auditory cortex ablation increased the gain of IC responses to noise stimuli (primarily in the central nucleus of the IC) and decreased response selectivity to forward species-specific vocalizations (versus temporally reversed ones, most prominently in the external cortex of the IC). In contrast, visual cortex ablation decreased the gain and induced a much smaller effect on response selectivity. The results suggest that auditory cortical projections normally exert a large-scale and net suppressive influence on specific IC subnuclei, while visual cortical projections provide a facilitatory influence. Meanwhile, auditory cortical projections enhance the midbrain response selectivity to species-specific vocalizations. We also probed the role of the indirect cholinergic projections in the auditory system in the descending modulation process by pharmacologically blocking muscarinic cholinergic receptors. This manipulation did not affect the gain of IC responses but significantly reduced the response selectivity to vocalizations. The results imply that auditory cortical

  18. Theory of electron cyclotron heating in the Constance II experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mauel, M.E.

    1981-03-01

    The bounce-averaged quasi-linear equation for a non-relativistic mirror-confined plasma interacting with electromagnetic waves is derived for use in the study of ECRH of the Constance II mirror experiment. The derivations follows the more formal examples given by Berk for electrostatic waves and Bernstein and Baxter for relativistic plasmas. The validity of the theory is discussed by examining individual particle orbits in an EM field. The local dispersion relation is found while deriving a self-consistent WKB theory which can be used to estimate the power transferred from the launching horn to the plasma

  19. Electron-cyclotron heating in the Constance 2 mirror experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mauel, Michael E.

    1982-09-01

    Electron cyclotron heating of a highly-ionized plasma in mirror geometry is investigated. The experimental diagnosis of the electron energy distribution and the comparison of the results of this diagnosis with a two dimensional, time-dependent Fokker-Planck simulation are accomplished in four steps. (1) First, the power balance of the heated and unheated Constance 2 plasma is analyzed experimentally. It is concluded that the heated electrons escape the mirror at a rate dominated by a combination of the influx of cool electrons from outside the mirror and the increased loss rate of the ions. (2) The microwave parameters at the resonance zones are then calculated by cold-plasma ray tracing. High N/sub parallel/ waves are launched and for these waves, strong first-pass absorption is predicted. The absorption strength is qualitatively checked in the experiment by surrounding the plasma with non-reflecting liners. (3) A simplified quasilinear theory including the effect of N/sub parallel/ is developed to model the electrons. An analytic expression is derived for the RF-induced pump-out of the magnetically-confined warm electrons. Results of the Fokker-Planck simulations show the development of the electron energy distribution for several plasma conditions and verify the scaling of the analytic expression for RF-induced diffusion into the loss cone. (4) Sample x-ray and endloss data are presented, and the overall comparison between the simulation and experiment is discussed. The x-ray signals indicate that, for greater RF power, the hot electrondensity increases more rapidly than its temperature. The time history of the endloss data, illustrating RF-enhancement, suggests the predicted scaling for warm-electron pump-out. Finally, a comparison between the measured and predicted energy distribution shows that the bulk, warm and hot components of the heated Constance 2 electrons are indeed reproduced by the simulation.

  20. Electron-cyclotron heating in the Constance 2 mirror experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mauel, M.E.

    1982-09-01

    Electron cyclotron heating of a highly-ionized plasma in mirror geometry is investigated. The experimental diagnosis of the electron energy distribution and the comparison of the results of this diagnosis with a two dimensional, time-dependent Fokker-Planck simulation are accomplished in four steps. (1) First, the power balance of the heated and unheated Constance 2 plasma is analyzed experimentally. It is concluded that the heated electrons escape the mirror at a rate dominated by a combination of the influx of cool electrons from outside the mirror and the increased loss rate of the ions. (2) The microwave parameters at the resonance zones are then calculated by cold-plasma ray tracing. High N/sub parallel/ waves are launched and for these waves, strong first-pass absorption is predicted. The absorption strength is qualitatively checked in the experiment by surrounding the plasma with non-reflecting liners. (3) A simplified quasilinear theory including the effect of N/sub parallel/ is developed to model the electrons. An analytic expression is derived for the RF-induced pump-out of the magnetically-confined warm electrons. Results of the Fokker-Planck simulations show the development of the electron energy distribution for several plasma conditions and verify the scaling of the analytic expression for RF-induced diffusion into the loss cone. (4) Sample x-ray and endloss data are presented, and the overall comparison between the simulation and experiment is discussed. The x-ray signals indicate that, for greater RF power, the hot electrondensity increases more rapidly than its temperature. The time history of the endloss data, illustrating RF-enhancement, suggests the predicted scaling for warm-electron pump-out. Finally, a comparison between the measured and predicted energy distribution shows that the bulk, warm and hot components of the heated Constance 2 electrons are indeed reproduced by the simulation

  1. TARA and constance B mirror confinement experiments and theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Post, R.S.; Gerver, M.; Kesner, J.

    1984-01-01

    The axisymmetric TARA central cell has been heated using aperture and double half turn ICRF antennas to produce stable plasma with β less than or equal to 0.2%. Parameters suitable for startup of thermal barriers with n = 3.5 x 10 12 /cm 3 and Ti/sub perpendiculer/ approx. 30 eV have been reached. Hot electron plasmas with β less than or equal to 15% are obtained in the TARA and Constance quadrupoles. Electron cyclotron instabilities are analyzed. A new scheme for single frequency drift pumping with stochasticity by ICRF is proposed. ICRF modulated at the electron bounce frequency is shown to yield stochastic parallel electron heating for thermal barriers

  2. A Basic Study on P300 Event-Related Potentials Evoked by Simultaneous Presentation of Visual and Auditory Stimuli for the Communication Interface

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Masami Hashimoto

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available We have been engaged in the development of a brain-computer interface (BCI based on the cognitive P300 event-related potentials (ERPs evoked by simultaneous presentation of visual and auditory stimuli in order to assist with the communication in severe physical limitation persons. The purpose of the simultaneous presentation of these stimuli is to give the user more choices as commands. First, we extracted P300 ERPs by either visual oddball paradigm or auditory oddball paradigm. Then amplitude and latency of the P300 ERPs were measured. Second, visual and auditory stimuli were presented simultaneously, we measured the P300 ERPs varying the condition of combinations of these stimuli. In this report, we used 3 colors as visual stimuli and 3 types of MIDI sounds as auditory stimuli. Two types of simultaneous presentations were examined. The one was conducted with random combination. The other was called group stimulation, combining one color, such as red, and one MIDI sound, such as piano, in order to make a group; three groups were made. Each group was presented to users randomly. We evaluated the possibility of BCI using these stimuli from the amplitudes and the latencies of P300 ERPs.

  3. Color improves “visual” acuity via sound

    OpenAIRE

    Levy-Tzedek, Shelly; Riemer, Dar; Amedi, Amir

    2014-01-01

    Visual-to-auditory sensory substitution devices (SSDs) convey visual information via sound, with the primary goal of making visual information accessible to blind and visually impaired individuals. We developed the EyeMusic SSD, which transforms shape, location, and color information into musical notes. We tested the “visual” acuity of 23 individuals (13 blind and 10 blindfolded sighted) on the Snellen tumbling-E test, with the EyeMusic. Participants were asked to determine the orientation of...

  4. Auditory Association Cortex Lesions Impair Auditory Short-Term Memory in Monkeys

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colombo, Michael; D'Amato, Michael R.; Rodman, Hillary R.; Gross, Charles G.

    1990-01-01

    Monkeys that were trained to perform auditory and visual short-term memory tasks (delayed matching-to-sample) received lesions of the auditory association cortex in the superior temporal gyrus. Although visual memory was completely unaffected by the lesions, auditory memory was severely impaired. Despite this impairment, all monkeys could discriminate sounds closer in frequency than those used in the auditory memory task. This result suggests that the superior temporal cortex plays a role in auditory processing and retention similar to the role the inferior temporal cortex plays in visual processing and retention.

  5. Auditory hallucinations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blom, Jan Dirk

    2015-01-01

    Auditory hallucinations constitute a phenomenologically rich group of endogenously mediated percepts which are associated with psychiatric, neurologic, otologic, and other medical conditions, but which are also experienced by 10-15% of all healthy individuals in the general population. The group of phenomena is probably best known for its verbal auditory subtype, but it also includes musical hallucinations, echo of reading, exploding-head syndrome, and many other types. The subgroup of verbal auditory hallucinations has been studied extensively with the aid of neuroimaging techniques, and from those studies emerges an outline of a functional as well as a structural network of widely distributed brain areas involved in their mediation. The present chapter provides an overview of the various types of auditory hallucination described in the literature, summarizes our current knowledge of the auditory networks involved in their mediation, and draws on ideas from the philosophy of science and network science to reconceptualize the auditory hallucinatory experience, and point out directions for future research into its neurobiologic substrates. In addition, it provides an overview of known associations with various clinical conditions and of the existing evidence for pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatments. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Simple method for routine check of the constancy of radiation quality of bremsstrahlung emitted by therapeutic particle accelerators

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rassow, J; Eipper, H H; Krause, K [Essen Univ. (Gesamthochschule) (Germany, F.R.). Abt. fuer Klinische Strahlenphysik; Staedtisches Krankenhaus Koeln-Merheim (Germany, F.R.). Roentgeninstitut und Strahlenklinik)

    1977-05-01

    The constancy of the radiation quality of therapeutically employed particle accelerators has to be checked at weekly intervals. Any change in radiation quality may have considerable therapeutic effects owing to its influence on dose distribution. It is recommended that measurements be made instead of, or in addition to, the axial reference-point measurement at 5 and 15 cm depth in the phantom, at 5 cm depth in the beam axis and at a reference-point about 1 cm within the geometric edge of the field, for checking the constancy of the radiation quality of bremsstrahlung. Only then, if routine checks carried out for the axial and the lateral reference-point dose ratios do not show any deviations greater than e.g. +-2 %, radiation quality is deemed to have remained sufficiently constant for radiotherapeutical applications.

  7. Auditory agnosia due to long-term severe hydrocephalus caused by spina bifida - specific auditory pathway versus nonspecific auditory pathway.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Qing; Kaga, Kimitaka; Hayashi, Akimasa

    2011-07-01

    A 27-year-old female showed auditory agnosia after long-term severe hydrocephalus due to congenital spina bifida. After years of hydrocephalus, she gradually suffered from hearing loss in her right ear at 19 years of age, followed by her left ear. During the time when she retained some ability to hear, she experienced severe difficulty in distinguishing verbal, environmental, and musical instrumental sounds. However, her auditory brainstem response and distortion product otoacoustic emissions were largely intact in the left ear. Her bilateral auditory cortices were preserved, as shown by neuroimaging, whereas her auditory radiations were severely damaged owing to progressive hydrocephalus. Although she had a complete bilateral hearing loss, she felt great pleasure when exposed to music. After years of self-training to read lips, she regained fluent ability to communicate. Clinical manifestations of this patient indicate that auditory agnosia can occur after long-term hydrocephalus due to spina bifida; the secondary auditory pathway may play a role in both auditory perception and hearing rehabilitation.

  8. Auditory short-term memory in the primate auditory cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, Brian H; Mishkin, Mortimer

    2016-06-01

    Sounds are fleeting, and assembling the sequence of inputs at the ear into a coherent percept requires auditory memory across various time scales. Auditory short-term memory comprises at least two components: an active ׳working memory' bolstered by rehearsal, and a sensory trace that may be passively retained. Working memory relies on representations recalled from long-term memory, and their rehearsal may require phonological mechanisms unique to humans. The sensory component, passive short-term memory (pSTM), is tractable to study in nonhuman primates, whose brain architecture and behavioral repertoire are comparable to our own. This review discusses recent advances in the behavioral and neurophysiological study of auditory memory with a focus on single-unit recordings from macaque monkeys performing delayed-match-to-sample (DMS) tasks. Monkeys appear to employ pSTM to solve these tasks, as evidenced by the impact of interfering stimuli on memory performance. In several regards, pSTM in monkeys resembles pitch memory in humans, and may engage similar neural mechanisms. Neural correlates of DMS performance have been observed throughout the auditory and prefrontal cortex, defining a network of areas supporting auditory STM with parallels to that supporting visual STM. These correlates include persistent neural firing, or a suppression of firing, during the delay period of the memory task, as well as suppression or (less commonly) enhancement of sensory responses when a sound is repeated as a ׳match' stimulus. Auditory STM is supported by a distributed temporo-frontal network in which sensitivity to stimulus history is an intrinsic feature of auditory processing. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Auditory working memory. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  9. Determination of mammography images constancy parameters for C R system using Phantom Mama and mammographic accreditation phantom

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Santos, Andre U. dos; Souza, Wedla P. de; Hoff, Gabriela

    2009-01-01

    In the diagnostic imaging services is common to find the analogical image acquiring method in transition to the digital acquiring method. However it is necessary to define the appropriate techniques for acquisition of images. For that achievement the reference parameter of image must be determinate and based on that, determine the constancy and diagnostic image quality tests. Annually, for each imaging system, it is recommended the technical parameters review for different types of breast, reducing the dose on the mammary gland and preserving the image quality. It should be done based on national regulations and in accordance to the requirements of the medical team. The methodological proposes of this work has the objective of realize the constancy analysis for the image quality, using the PhantonMama and Mamographic Accreditation Phantom model 18-220 (recommended by ACR) and the software. Both protocols suggested were adequate for the analysis proposed. (author)

  10. Stuttering adults' lack of pre-speech auditory modulation normalizes when speaking with delayed auditory feedback.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daliri, Ayoub; Max, Ludo

    2018-02-01

    Auditory modulation during speech movement planning is limited in adults who stutter (AWS), but the functional relevance of the phenomenon itself remains unknown. We investigated for AWS and adults who do not stutter (AWNS) (a) a potential relationship between pre-speech auditory modulation and auditory feedback contributions to speech motor learning and (b) the effect on pre-speech auditory modulation of real-time versus delayed auditory feedback. Experiment I used a sensorimotor adaptation paradigm to estimate auditory-motor speech learning. Using acoustic speech recordings, we quantified subjects' formant frequency adjustments across trials when continually exposed to formant-shifted auditory feedback. In Experiment II, we used electroencephalography to determine the same subjects' extent of pre-speech auditory modulation (reductions in auditory evoked potential N1 amplitude) when probe tones were delivered prior to speaking versus not speaking. To manipulate subjects' ability to monitor real-time feedback, we included speaking conditions with non-altered auditory feedback (NAF) and delayed auditory feedback (DAF). Experiment I showed that auditory-motor learning was limited for AWS versus AWNS, and the extent of learning was negatively correlated with stuttering frequency. Experiment II yielded several key findings: (a) our prior finding of limited pre-speech auditory modulation in AWS was replicated; (b) DAF caused a decrease in auditory modulation for most AWNS but an increase for most AWS; and (c) for AWS, the amount of auditory modulation when speaking with DAF was positively correlated with stuttering frequency. Lastly, AWNS showed no correlation between pre-speech auditory modulation (Experiment II) and extent of auditory-motor learning (Experiment I) whereas AWS showed a negative correlation between these measures. Thus, findings suggest that AWS show deficits in both pre-speech auditory modulation and auditory-motor learning; however, limited pre

  11. Effect of delayed auditory feedback on stuttering with and without central auditory processing disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Picoloto, Luana Altran; Cardoso, Ana Cláudia Vieira; Cerqueira, Amanda Venuti; Oliveira, Cristiane Moço Canhetti de

    2017-12-07

    To verify the effect of delayed auditory feedback on speech fluency of individuals who stutter with and without central auditory processing disorders. The participants were twenty individuals with stuttering from 7 to 17 years old and were divided into two groups: Stuttering Group with Auditory Processing Disorders (SGAPD): 10 individuals with central auditory processing disorders, and Stuttering Group (SG): 10 individuals without central auditory processing disorders. Procedures were: fluency assessment with non-altered auditory feedback (NAF) and delayed auditory feedback (DAF), assessment of the stuttering severity and central auditory processing (CAP). Phono Tools software was used to cause a delay of 100 milliseconds in the auditory feedback. The "Wilcoxon Signal Post" test was used in the intragroup analysis and "Mann-Whitney" test in the intergroup analysis. The DAF caused a statistically significant reduction in SG: in the frequency score of stuttering-like disfluencies in the analysis of the Stuttering Severity Instrument, in the amount of blocks and repetitions of monosyllabic words, and in the frequency of stuttering-like disfluencies of duration. Delayed auditory feedback did not cause statistically significant effects on SGAPD fluency, individuals with stuttering with auditory processing disorders. The effect of delayed auditory feedback in speech fluency of individuals who stutter was different in individuals of both groups, because there was an improvement in fluency only in individuals without auditory processing disorder.

  12. Auditory, visual and auditory-visual memory and sequencing performance in typically developing children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pillai, Roshni; Yathiraj, Asha

    2017-09-01

    The study evaluated whether there exists a difference/relation in the way four different memory skills (memory score, sequencing score, memory span, & sequencing span) are processed through the auditory modality, visual modality and combined modalities. Four memory skills were evaluated on 30 typically developing children aged 7 years and 8 years across three modality conditions (auditory, visual, & auditory-visual). Analogous auditory and visual stimuli were presented to evaluate the three modality conditions across the two age groups. The children obtained significantly higher memory scores through the auditory modality compared to the visual modality. Likewise, their memory scores were significantly higher through the auditory-visual modality condition than through the visual modality. However, no effect of modality was observed on the sequencing scores as well as for the memory and the sequencing span. A good agreement was seen between the different modality conditions that were studied (auditory, visual, & auditory-visual) for the different memory skills measures (memory scores, sequencing scores, memory span, & sequencing span). A relatively lower agreement was noted only between the auditory and visual modalities as well as between the visual and auditory-visual modality conditions for the memory scores, measured using Bland-Altman plots. The study highlights the efficacy of using analogous stimuli to assess the auditory, visual as well as combined modalities. The study supports the view that the performance of children on different memory skills was better through the auditory modality compared to the visual modality. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Autecology of Limnomysis benedeni Czerniavsky, 1882 (Crustacea: Mysida) in Lake Constance, Southwestern Germany

    OpenAIRE

    Gergs, René; Hanselmann, Almut J.; Eisele, Isabelle; Rothhaupt, Karl-Otto

    2008-01-01

    The Ponto-Caspian mysid Limnomysis benedeni was first recorded in Lake Constance in summer 2006, and a stable population developed at the site of discovery. Although this mysid is common in the Rhine and Danube rivers, little is known about its ecology and impact in systems of invasion. We investigated the autecology of L. benedeni in habitat-choice and food experiments. In the habitat-choice experiments, highly structured habitats, i.e., stones covered with zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorph...

  14. Tool for the verification of geometrical parameters and constancy of image quality in radiology equipment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mayo, P.; Verdu Martin, G.; Rodenas Escriba, F.; Marin Peinado, B.; Camapyo Esteban Nogueira, J. M.; Diez Domingo, S.; Villaescusa Blanca, J. I.; Hernando Gonzalez, I.; Ruiz Manzano, P.; Rivas Ballarin, M. A.; Melcho Iniguez, M.; Asensio Martinez, M. I.

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents the application of an innovative tool developed for the detailed quality control of diagnostic equipment. We have tried to validate such a tool for verification of geometrical parameters and the evaluation of the constancy of the image quality in radiology equipment, evaluating their usefulness by various services of Radio physics and radiation protection of different hospitals. (Author)

  15. Impossible promise: the child and the androgyne in Thomas Kilroy's The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde and My Scandalous Life

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Lanters

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available In The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde and My Scandalous Life, the impossible ideals of perfect harmony between the sexes and perfect innocence are symbolically represented by the figures of the Androgyne and the child. In a process that illustrates the Wildean paradox that "each man kills the thing he loves," Oscar and Constance Wilde on the one hand, Alfred Douglas and Olive Custance on the other, fight each other over possession of their children, in that very act destroying both the ideal of androgynous harmony and that of childish innocence. Only by performing their worst nightmares, embracing the darkness within themselves, and acknowledging that innocence contains its own corruption, can the characters restore some form of equilibrium.

  16. Monitoring Linear Accelerator Output Constancy Using the PTW Linacheck

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McDermott, Garry M.; Buckle, Andrew H.

    2011-01-01

    The PTW-Linacheck was assessed for its ability to monitor linear accelerator radiation output constancy. The key issues that were considered were the setup for daily output measurements, e.g., requirements for build-up and backscatter material, and the reproducibility and linearity of the device with linear accelerator output. An appropriate measurement setup includes a 10 x 10 cm field at 100 cm FSD, 5 cm backscatter, and no added build-up for 4 MeV electron beams, 1 cm added build-up for 6-16 MeV electron beams and 5 cm added build-up for 6-15 MV photon beams. Using this measurement setup, the dose linearity and short-term reproducibility were acceptable; however, the Linacheck should be recalibrated on a monthly basis to ensure acceptable long-term reproducibility.

  17. Auditory Spatial Layout

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wightman, Frederic L.; Jenison, Rick

    1995-01-01

    All auditory sensory information is packaged in a pair of acoustical pressure waveforms, one at each ear. While there is obvious structure in these waveforms, that structure (temporal and spectral patterns) bears no simple relationship to the structure of the environmental objects that produced them. The properties of auditory objects and their layout in space must be derived completely from higher level processing of the peripheral input. This chapter begins with a discussion of the peculiarities of acoustical stimuli and how they are received by the human auditory system. A distinction is made between the ambient sound field and the effective stimulus to differentiate the perceptual distinctions among various simple classes of sound sources (ambient field) from the known perceptual consequences of the linear transformations of the sound wave from source to receiver (effective stimulus). Next, the definition of an auditory object is dealt with, specifically the question of how the various components of a sound stream become segregated into distinct auditory objects. The remainder of the chapter focuses on issues related to the spatial layout of auditory objects, both stationary and moving.

  18. Multichannel auditory search: toward understanding control processes in polychotic auditory listening.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, M D

    2001-01-01

    Two experiments are presented that serve as a framework for exploring auditory information processing. The framework is referred to as polychotic listening or auditory search, and it requires a listener to scan multiple simultaneous auditory streams for the appearance of a target word (the name of a letter such as A or M). Participants' ability to scan between two and six simultaneous auditory streams of letter and digit names for the name of a target letter was examined using six loudspeakers. The main independent variable was auditory load, or the number of active audio streams on a given trial. The primary dependent variables were target localization accuracy and reaction time. Results showed that as load increased, performance decreased. The performance decrease was evident in reaction time, accuracy, and sensitivity measures. The second study required participants to practice the same task for 10 sessions, for a total of 1800 trials. Results indicated that even with extensive practice, performance was still affected by auditory load. The present results are compared with findings in the visual search literature. The implications for the use of multiple auditory displays are discussed. Potential applications include cockpit and automobile warning displays, virtual reality systems, and training systems.

  19. The visual-auditory color-word Stroop asymmetry and its time course

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Roelofs, A.P.A.

    2005-01-01

    Four experiments examined crossmodal versions of the Stroop task in order (1) to look for Stroop asymmetries in color naming, spoken-word naming, and written-word naming and to evaluate the time course of these asymmetries, and (2) to compare these findings to current models of the Stroop effect.

  20. Diminished auditory sensory gating during active auditory verbal hallucinations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thoma, Robert J; Meier, Andrew; Houck, Jon; Clark, Vincent P; Lewine, Jeffrey D; Turner, Jessica; Calhoun, Vince; Stephen, Julia

    2017-10-01

    Auditory sensory gating, assessed in a paired-click paradigm, indicates the extent to which incoming stimuli are filtered, or "gated", in auditory cortex. Gating is typically computed as the ratio of the peak amplitude of the event related potential (ERP) to a second click (S2) divided by the peak amplitude of the ERP to a first click (S1). Higher gating ratios are purportedly indicative of incomplete suppression of S2 and considered to represent sensory processing dysfunction. In schizophrenia, hallucination severity is positively correlated with gating ratios, and it was hypothesized that a failure of sensory control processes early in auditory sensation (gating) may represent a larger system failure within the auditory data stream; resulting in auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH). EEG data were collected while patients (N=12) with treatment-resistant AVH pressed a button to indicate the beginning (AVH-on) and end (AVH-off) of each AVH during a paired click protocol. For each participant, separate gating ratios were computed for the P50, N100, and P200 components for each of the AVH-off and AVH-on states. AVH trait severity was assessed using the Psychotic Symptoms Rating Scales AVH Total score (PSYRATS). The results of a mixed model ANOVA revealed an overall effect for AVH state, such that gating ratios were significantly higher during the AVH-on state than during AVH-off for all three components. PSYRATS score was significantly and negatively correlated with N100 gating ratio only in the AVH-off state. These findings link onset of AVH with a failure of an empirically-defined auditory inhibition system, auditory sensory gating, and pave the way for a sensory gating model of AVH. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Effectiveness of auditory and tactile crossmodal cues in a dual-task visual and auditory scenario.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hopkins, Kevin; Kass, Steven J; Blalock, Lisa Durrance; Brill, J Christopher

    2017-05-01

    In this study, we examined how spatially informative auditory and tactile cues affected participants' performance on a visual search task while they simultaneously performed a secondary auditory task. Visual search task performance was assessed via reaction time and accuracy. Tactile and auditory cues provided the approximate location of the visual target within the search display. The inclusion of tactile and auditory cues improved performance in comparison to the no-cue baseline conditions. In comparison to the no-cue conditions, both tactile and auditory cues resulted in faster response times in the visual search only (single task) and visual-auditory (dual-task) conditions. However, the effectiveness of auditory and tactile cueing for visual task accuracy was shown to be dependent on task-type condition. Crossmodal cueing remains a viable strategy for improving task performance without increasing attentional load within a singular sensory modality. Practitioner Summary: Crossmodal cueing with dual-task performance has not been widely explored, yet has practical applications. We examined the effects of auditory and tactile crossmodal cues on visual search performance, with and without a secondary auditory task. Tactile cues aided visual search accuracy when also engaged in a secondary auditory task, whereas auditory cues did not.

  2. Brainstem auditory evoked responses in an equine patient population: part I--adult horses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aleman, M; Holliday, T A; Nieto, J E; Williams, D C

    2014-01-01

    Brainstem auditory evoked response has been an underused diagnostic modality in horses as evidenced by few reports on the subject. To describe BAER findings, common clinical signs, and causes of hearing loss in adult horses. Study group, 76 horses; control group, 8 horses. Retrospective. BAER records from the Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory were reviewed from the years of 1982 to 2013. Peak latencies, amplitudes, and interpeak intervals were measured when visible. Horses were grouped under disease categories. Descriptive statistics and a posthoc Bonferroni test were performed. Fifty-seven of 76 horses had BAER deficits. There was no breed or sex predisposition, with the exception of American Paint horses diagnosed with congenital sensorineural deafness. Eighty-six percent (n = 49/57) of the horses were younger than 16 years of age. The most common causes of BAER abnormalities were temporohyoid osteoarthropathy (THO, n = 20/20; abnormalities/total), congenital sensorineural deafness in Paint horses (17/17), multifocal brain disease (13/16), and otitis media/interna (4/4). Auditory loss was bilateral and unilateral in 74% (n = 42/57) and 26% (n = 15/57) of the horses, respectively. The most common causes of bilateral auditory loss were sensorineural deafness, THO, and multifocal brain disease whereas THO and otitis were the most common causes of unilateral deficits. Auditory deficits should be investigated in horses with altered behavior, THO, multifocal brain disease, otitis, and in horses with certain coat and eye color patterns. BAER testing is an objective and noninvasive diagnostic modality to assess auditory function in horses. Copyright © 2014 by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

  3. Harmonious colors: from alchemy to science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beretta, Giordano B.; Moroney, Nathan M.

    2012-01-01

    There is a very long tradition in designing color palettes for various applications, going back to at least the Upanishad. Although color palettes have been influenced by the available colorants, starting with the advent of aniline dyes in the late 1850s there have been few physical limits on the choice of individual colors. This abundance of choices exacerbates the problem of limiting the number of colors in a palette, i.e., in keeping them into a manageable quantity. For example, it is not practical for a car company to offer each model in hundreds of colors. Instead, for each model year a small number of color palettes is offered, each containing the colors for the body, trim, interior, etc. Another example is the fashion industry, where in addition to solid colors there are also patterns, leading to a huge variety of combinations that would be impossible to stock. The traditional solution is that of "color forecasting." Color consultants assess the sentiment or affective state of a target customer class and compare it with new colorants offered by the industry. They assemble a limited color palette, name the colors according to the sentiment, and publish their result. Textile manufacturers will produce fabrics in these colors and fashion designers will design clothes, accessories, and furniture based on these fabrics. Eventually, the media will communicate these forecasts to the consumers, who will be admired by their cohorts when they choose colors from the forecast palette, which by then is widely diffused. The color forecasting business is very labor intensive and difficult, thus for years computer engineers have tried to come up with algorithms to design harmonious color palettes, alas with little commercial success. For example, Johannes Itten's color theory has been implemented many times, but despite Itten's success in the Bauhaus artifacts, the computer tools have been of little utility. Indeed, contrary to the auditory sense, there is no known

  4. Testing Constancy of the Error Covariance Matrix in Vector Models against Parametric Alternatives using a Spectral Decomposition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yang, Yukay

    I consider multivariate (vector) time series models in which the error covariance matrix may be time-varying. I derive a test of constancy of the error covariance matrix against the alternative that the covariance matrix changes over time. I design a new family of Lagrange-multiplier tests against...... to consider multivariate volatility modelling....

  5. Attending to auditory memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zimmermann, Jacqueline F; Moscovitch, Morris; Alain, Claude

    2016-06-01

    Attention to memory describes the process of attending to memory traces when the object is no longer present. It has been studied primarily for representations of visual stimuli with only few studies examining attention to sound object representations in short-term memory. Here, we review the interplay of attention and auditory memory with an emphasis on 1) attending to auditory memory in the absence of related external stimuli (i.e., reflective attention) and 2) effects of existing memory on guiding attention. Attention to auditory memory is discussed in the context of change deafness, and we argue that failures to detect changes in our auditory environments are most likely the result of a faulty comparison system of incoming and stored information. Also, objects are the primary building blocks of auditory attention, but attention can also be directed to individual features (e.g., pitch). We review short-term and long-term memory guided modulation of attention based on characteristic features, location, and/or semantic properties of auditory objects, and propose that auditory attention to memory pathways emerge after sensory memory. A neural model for auditory attention to memory is developed, which comprises two separate pathways in the parietal cortex, one involved in attention to higher-order features and the other involved in attention to sensory information. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Auditory working memory. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Predictive coding of visual-auditory and motor-auditory events: An electrophysiological study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stekelenburg, Jeroen J; Vroomen, Jean

    2015-11-11

    The amplitude of auditory components of the event-related potential (ERP) is attenuated when sounds are self-generated compared to externally generated sounds. This effect has been ascribed to internal forward modals predicting the sensory consequences of one's own motor actions. Auditory potentials are also attenuated when a sound is accompanied by a video of anticipatory visual motion that reliably predicts the sound. Here, we investigated whether the neural underpinnings of prediction of upcoming auditory stimuli are similar for motor-auditory (MA) and visual-auditory (VA) events using a stimulus omission paradigm. In the MA condition, a finger tap triggered the sound of a handclap whereas in the VA condition the same sound was accompanied by a video showing the handclap. In both conditions, the auditory stimulus was omitted in either 50% or 12% of the trials. These auditory omissions induced early and mid-latency ERP components (oN1 and oN2, presumably reflecting prediction and prediction error), and subsequent higher-order error evaluation processes. The oN1 and oN2 of MA and VA were alike in amplitude, topography, and neural sources despite that the origin of the prediction stems from different brain areas (motor versus visual cortex). This suggests that MA and VA predictions activate a sensory template of the sound in auditory cortex. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Prediction and Attention. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Development of the auditory system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Litovsky, Ruth

    2015-01-01

    Auditory development involves changes in the peripheral and central nervous system along the auditory pathways, and these occur naturally, and in response to stimulation. Human development occurs along a trajectory that can last decades, and is studied using behavioral psychophysics, as well as physiologic measurements with neural imaging. The auditory system constructs a perceptual space that takes information from objects and groups, segregates sounds, and provides meaning and access to communication tools such as language. Auditory signals are processed in a series of analysis stages, from peripheral to central. Coding of information has been studied for features of sound, including frequency, intensity, loudness, and location, in quiet and in the presence of maskers. In the latter case, the ability of the auditory system to perform an analysis of the scene becomes highly relevant. While some basic abilities are well developed at birth, there is a clear prolonged maturation of auditory development well into the teenage years. Maturation involves auditory pathways. However, non-auditory changes (attention, memory, cognition) play an important role in auditory development. The ability of the auditory system to adapt in response to novel stimuli is a key feature of development throughout the nervous system, known as neural plasticity. PMID:25726262

  8. Animal models for auditory streaming

    Science.gov (United States)

    Itatani, Naoya

    2017-01-01

    Sounds in the natural environment need to be assigned to acoustic sources to evaluate complex auditory scenes. Separating sources will affect the analysis of auditory features of sounds. As the benefits of assigning sounds to specific sources accrue to all species communicating acoustically, the ability for auditory scene analysis is widespread among different animals. Animal studies allow for a deeper insight into the neuronal mechanisms underlying auditory scene analysis. Here, we will review the paradigms applied in the study of auditory scene analysis and streaming of sequential sounds in animal models. We will compare the psychophysical results from the animal studies to the evidence obtained in human psychophysics of auditory streaming, i.e. in a task commonly used for measuring the capability for auditory scene analysis. Furthermore, the neuronal correlates of auditory streaming will be reviewed in different animal models and the observations of the neurons’ response measures will be related to perception. The across-species comparison will reveal whether similar demands in the analysis of acoustic scenes have resulted in similar perceptual and neuronal processing mechanisms in the wide range of species being capable of auditory scene analysis. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Auditory and visual scene analysis’. PMID:28044022

  9. Improvement of auditory hallucinations and reduction of primary auditory area's activation following TMS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Giesel, Frederik L.; Mehndiratta, Amit; Hempel, Albrecht; Hempel, Eckhard; Kress, Kai R.; Essig, Marco; Schröder, Johannes

    2012-01-01

    Background: In the present case study, improvement of auditory hallucinations following transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) therapy was investigated with respect to activation changes of the auditory cortices. Methods: Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), activation of the auditory cortices was assessed prior to and after a 4-week TMS series of the left superior temporal gyrus in a schizophrenic patient with medication-resistant auditory hallucinations. Results: Hallucinations decreased slightly after the third and profoundly after the fourth week of TMS. Activation in the primary auditory area decreased, whereas activation in the operculum and insula remained stable. Conclusions: Combination of TMS and repetitive fMRI is promising to elucidate the physiological changes induced by TMS.

  10. Generalized Enhanced Multivariance Product Representation for Data Partitioning: Constancy Level

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tunga, M. Alper; Demiralp, Metin

    2011-01-01

    Enhanced Multivariance Product Representation (EMPR) method is used to represent multivariate functions in terms of less-variate structures. The EMPR method extends the HDMR expansion by inserting some additional support functions to increase the quality of the approximants obtained for dominantly or purely multiplicative analytical structures. This work aims to develop the generalized form of the EMPR method to be used in multivariate data partitioning approaches. For this purpose, the Generalized HDMR philosophy is taken into consideration to construct the details of the Generalized EMPR at constancy level as the introductory steps and encouraging results are obtained in data partitioning problems by using our new method. In addition, to examine this performance, a number of numerical implementations with concluding remarks are given at the end of this paper.

  11. Auditory Perspective Taking

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Martinson, Eric; Brock, Derek

    2006-01-01

    .... From this knowledge of another's auditory perspective, a conversational partner can then adapt his or her auditory output to overcome a variety of environmental challenges and insure that what is said is intelligible...

  12. Competition and convergence between auditory and cross-modal visual inputs to primary auditory cortical areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mao, Yu-Ting; Hua, Tian-Miao

    2011-01-01

    Sensory neocortex is capable of considerable plasticity after sensory deprivation or damage to input pathways, especially early in development. Although plasticity can often be restorative, sometimes novel, ectopic inputs invade the affected cortical area. Invading inputs from other sensory modalities may compromise the original function or even take over, imposing a new function and preventing recovery. Using ferrets whose retinal axons were rerouted into auditory thalamus at birth, we were able to examine the effect of varying the degree of ectopic, cross-modal input on reorganization of developing auditory cortex. In particular, we assayed whether the invading visual inputs and the existing auditory inputs competed for or shared postsynaptic targets and whether the convergence of input modalities would induce multisensory processing. We demonstrate that although the cross-modal inputs create new visual neurons in auditory cortex, some auditory processing remains. The degree of damage to auditory input to the medial geniculate nucleus was directly related to the proportion of visual neurons in auditory cortex, suggesting that the visual and residual auditory inputs compete for cortical territory. Visual neurons were not segregated from auditory neurons but shared target space even on individual target cells, substantially increasing the proportion of multisensory neurons. Thus spatial convergence of visual and auditory input modalities may be sufficient to expand multisensory representations. Together these findings argue that early, patterned visual activity does not drive segregation of visual and auditory afferents and suggest that auditory function might be compromised by converging visual inputs. These results indicate possible ways in which multisensory cortical areas may form during development and evolution. They also suggest that rehabilitative strategies designed to promote recovery of function after sensory deprivation or damage need to take into

  13. Differential Recruitment of Auditory Cortices in the Consolidation of Recent Auditory Fearful Memories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cambiaghi, Marco; Grosso, Anna; Renna, Annamaria; Sacchetti, Benedetto

    2016-08-17

    Memories of frightening events require a protracted consolidation process. Sensory cortex, such as the auditory cortex, is involved in the formation of fearful memories with a more complex sensory stimulus pattern. It remains controversial, however, whether the auditory cortex is also required for fearful memories related to simple sensory stimuli. In the present study, we found that, 1 d after training, the temporary inactivation of either the most anterior region of the auditory cortex, including the primary (Te1) cortex, or the most posterior region, which included the secondary (Te2) component, did not affect the retention of recent memories, which is consistent with the current literature. However, at this time point, the inactivation of the entire auditory cortices completely prevented the formation of new memories. Amnesia was site specific and was not due to auditory stimuli perception or processing and strictly related to the interference with memory consolidation processes. Strikingly, at a late time interval 4 d after training, blocking the posterior part (encompassing the Te2) alone impaired memory retention, whereas the inactivation of the anterior part (encompassing the Te1) left memory unaffected. Together, these data show that the auditory cortex is necessary for the consolidation of auditory fearful memories related to simple tones in rats. Moreover, these results suggest that, at early time intervals, memory information is processed in a distributed network composed of both the anterior and the posterior auditory cortical regions, whereas, at late time intervals, memory processing is concentrated in the most posterior part containing the Te2 region. Memories of threatening experiences undergo a prolonged process of "consolidation" to be maintained for a long time. The dynamic of fearful memory consolidation is poorly understood. Here, we show that 1 d after learning, memory is processed in a distributed network composed of both primary Te1 and

  14. Constancy and inconstancy in categorical colour perception

    OpenAIRE

    Roca Vilà, Jordi

    2013-01-01

    Als preliminars: The research described in this book was carried out at the Computer Vision Center El reconeixement d'objectes és potser la tasca més important que un sistema autònom, ja sigui biològic o artificial, necessita realitzar. En el context de la visió humana, això s'aconsegueix parcialment a través del reconeixement del color de les superfícies malgrat els canvis en la distribució espectral de la llum, propietat anomenada constància de color. El reconeixement correcte del color ...

  15. Floral constancy in bees: a revision of theories and a comparison with other pollinators

    OpenAIRE

    Amaya-Márquez¹, Marisol

    2009-01-01

    Bees make choices about what flowers to visit among the options in the floral market. Bee specialization to visit only one plant species at a time is relevant to maintain the plant-bee mutualism. Angiosperms derive a clear benefit in their sexual reproduction from the fidelity exhibited by the bees; less obvious is why the insects engage in this behavior. The phenomenon of flower constancy in bees is known from more than two millennia ago yet there is no general theory that can explain all ki...

  16. Manipulation of Auditory Inputs as Rehabilitation Therapy for Maladaptive Auditory Cortical Reorganization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hidehiko Okamoto

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Neurophysiological and neuroimaging data suggest that the brains of not only children but also adults are reorganized based on sensory inputs and behaviors. Plastic changes in the brain are generally beneficial; however, maladaptive cortical reorganization in the auditory cortex may lead to hearing disorders such as tinnitus and hyperacusis. Recent studies attempted to noninvasively visualize pathological neural activity in the living human brain and reverse maladaptive cortical reorganization by the suitable manipulation of auditory inputs in order to alleviate detrimental auditory symptoms. The effects of the manipulation of auditory inputs on maladaptively reorganized brain were reviewed herein. The findings obtained indicate that rehabilitation therapy based on the manipulation of auditory inputs is an effective and safe approach for hearing disorders. The appropriate manipulation of sensory inputs guided by the visualization of pathological brain activities using recent neuroimaging techniques may contribute to the establishment of new clinical applications for affected individuals.

  17. Auditory temporal preparation induced by rhythmic cues during concurrent auditory working memory tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cutanda, Diana; Correa, Ángel; Sanabria, Daniel

    2015-06-01

    The present study investigated whether participants can develop temporal preparation driven by auditory isochronous rhythms when concurrently performing an auditory working memory (WM) task. In Experiment 1, participants had to respond to an auditory target presented after a regular or an irregular sequence of auditory stimuli while concurrently performing a Sternberg-type WM task. Results showed that participants responded faster after regular compared with irregular rhythms and that this effect was not affected by WM load; however, the lack of a significant main effect of WM load made it difficult to draw any conclusion regarding the influence of the dual-task manipulation in Experiment 1. In order to enhance dual-task interference, Experiment 2 combined the auditory rhythm procedure with an auditory N-Back task, which required WM updating (monitoring and coding of the information) and was presumably more demanding than the mere rehearsal of the WM task used in Experiment 1. Results now clearly showed dual-task interference effects (slower reaction times [RTs] in the high- vs. the low-load condition). However, such interference did not affect temporal preparation induced by rhythms, with faster RTs after regular than after irregular sequences in the high-load and low-load conditions. These results revealed that secondary tasks demanding memory updating, relative to tasks just demanding rehearsal, produced larger interference effects on overall RTs in the auditory rhythm task. Nevertheless, rhythm regularity exerted a strong temporal preparation effect that survived the interference of the WM task even when both tasks competed for processing resources within the auditory modality. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  18. Short-term plasticity in auditory cognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jääskeläinen, Iiro P; Ahveninen, Jyrki; Belliveau, John W; Raij, Tommi; Sams, Mikko

    2007-12-01

    Converging lines of evidence suggest that auditory system short-term plasticity can enable several perceptual and cognitive functions that have been previously considered as relatively distinct phenomena. Here we review recent findings suggesting that auditory stimulation, auditory selective attention and cross-modal effects of visual stimulation each cause transient excitatory and (surround) inhibitory modulations in the auditory cortex. These modulations might adaptively tune hierarchically organized sound feature maps of the auditory cortex (e.g. tonotopy), thus filtering relevant sounds during rapidly changing environmental and task demands. This could support auditory sensory memory, pre-attentive detection of sound novelty, enhanced perception during selective attention, influence of visual processing on auditory perception and longer-term plastic changes associated with perceptual learning.

  19. Auditory Processing Disorder (For Parents)

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... role. Auditory cohesion problems: This is when higher-level listening tasks are difficult. Auditory cohesion skills — drawing inferences from conversations, understanding riddles, or comprehending verbal math problems — require heightened auditory processing and language levels. ...

  20. The Effect of Working Memory Training on Auditory Stream Segregation in Auditory Processing Disorders Children

    OpenAIRE

    Abdollah Moossavi; Saeideh Mehrkian; Yones Lotfi; Soghrat Faghih zadeh; Hamed Adjedi

    2015-01-01

    Objectives: This study investigated the efficacy of working memory training for improving working memory capacity and related auditory stream segregation in auditory processing disorders children. Methods: Fifteen subjects (9-11 years), clinically diagnosed with auditory processing disorder participated in this non-randomized case-controlled trial. Working memory abilities and auditory stream segregation were evaluated prior to beginning and six weeks after completing the training program...

  1. Modularity in Sensory Auditory Memory

    OpenAIRE

    Clement, Sylvain; Moroni, Christine; Samson, Séverine

    2004-01-01

    The goal of this paper was to review various experimental and neuropsychological studies that support the modular conception of auditory sensory memory or auditory short-term memory. Based on initial findings demonstrating that verbal sensory memory system can be dissociated from a general auditory memory store at the functional and anatomical levels. we reported a series of studies that provided evidence in favor of multiple auditory sensory stores specialized in retaining eit...

  2. Beneficial auditory and cognitive effects of auditory brainstem implantation in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colletti, Liliana

    2007-09-01

    This preliminary study demonstrates the development of hearing ability and shows that there is a significant improvement in some cognitive parameters related to selective visual/spatial attention and to fluid or multisensory reasoning, in children fitted with auditory brainstem implantation (ABI). The improvement in cognitive paramenters is due to several factors, among which there is certainly, as demonstrated in the literature on a cochlear implants (CIs), the activation of the auditory sensory canal, which was previously absent. The findings of the present study indicate that children with cochlear or cochlear nerve abnormalities with associated cognitive deficits should not be excluded from ABI implantation. The indications for ABI have been extended over the last 10 years to adults with non-tumoral (NT) cochlear or cochlear nerve abnormalities that cannot benefit from CI. We demonstrated that the ABI with surface electrodes may provide sufficient stimulation of the central auditory system in adults for open set speech recognition. These favourable results motivated us to extend ABI indications to children with profound hearing loss who were not candidates for a CI. This study investigated the performances of young deaf children undergoing ABI, in terms of their auditory perceptual development and their non-verbal cognitive abilities. In our department from 2000 to 2006, 24 children aged 14 months to 16 years received an ABI for different tumour and non-tumour diseases. Two children had NF2 tumours. Eighteen children had bilateral cochlear nerve aplasia. In this group, nine children had associated cochlear malformations, two had unilateral facial nerve agenesia and two had combined microtia, aural atresia and middle ear malformations. Four of these children had previously been fitted elsewhere with a CI with no auditory results. One child had bilateral incomplete cochlear partition (type II); one child, who had previously been fitted unsuccessfully elsewhere

  3. What determines auditory distraction? On the roles of local auditory changes and expectation violations.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan P Röer

    Full Text Available Both the acoustic variability of a distractor sequence and the degree to which it violates expectations are important determinants of auditory distraction. In four experiments we examined the relative contribution of local auditory changes on the one hand and expectation violations on the other hand in the disruption of serial recall by irrelevant sound. We present evidence for a greater disruption by auditory sequences ending in unexpected steady state distractor repetitions compared to auditory sequences with expected changing state endings even though the former contained fewer local changes. This effect was demonstrated with piano melodies (Experiment 1 and speech distractors (Experiment 2. Furthermore, it was replicated when the expectation violation occurred after the encoding of the target items (Experiment 3, indicating that the items' maintenance in short-term memory was disrupted by attentional capture and not their encoding. This seems to be primarily due to the violation of a model of the specific auditory distractor sequences because the effect vanishes and even reverses when the experiment provides no opportunity to build up a specific neural model about the distractor sequence (Experiment 4. Nevertheless, the violation of abstract long-term knowledge about auditory regularities seems to cause a small and transient capture effect: Disruption decreased markedly over the course of the experiments indicating that participants habituated to the unexpected distractor repetitions across trials. The overall pattern of results adds to the growing literature that the degree to which auditory distractors violate situation-specific expectations is a more important determinant of auditory distraction than the degree to which a distractor sequence contains local auditory changes.

  4. Auditory-visual integration in fields of the auditory cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kubota, Michinori; Sugimoto, Shunji; Hosokawa, Yutaka; Ojima, Hisayuki; Horikawa, Junsei

    2017-03-01

    While multimodal interactions have been known to exist in the early sensory cortices, the response properties and spatiotemporal organization of these interactions are poorly understood. To elucidate the characteristics of multimodal sensory interactions in the cerebral cortex, neuronal responses to visual stimuli with or without auditory stimuli were investigated in core and belt fields of guinea pig auditory cortex using real-time optical imaging with a voltage-sensitive dye. On average, visual responses consisted of short excitation followed by long inhibition. Although visual responses were observed in core and belt fields, there were regional and temporal differences in responses. The most salient visual responses were observed in the caudal belt fields, especially posterior (P) and dorsocaudal belt (DCB) fields. Visual responses emerged first in fields P and DCB and then spread rostroventrally to core and ventrocaudal belt (VCB) fields. Absolute values of positive and negative peak amplitudes of visual responses were both larger in fields P and DCB than in core and VCB fields. When combined visual and auditory stimuli were applied, fields P and DCB were more inhibited than core and VCB fields beginning approximately 110 ms after stimuli. Correspondingly, differences between responses to auditory stimuli alone and combined audiovisual stimuli became larger in fields P and DCB than in core and VCB fields after approximately 110 ms after stimuli. These data indicate that visual influences are most salient in fields P and DCB, which manifest mainly as inhibition, and that they enhance differences in auditory responses among fields. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Hot electron plasma equilibrium and stability in the Constance B mirror experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Xing.

    1988-04-01

    An experimental study of the equilibrium and macroscopic stability property of an electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) generated plasma in a minimum-B mirror is presented. The Constance B mirror is a single cell quadrupole magnetic mirror in which high beta (β ≤ 0.3) hot electron plasmas (T/sub e/≅400 keV) are created with up to 4 kW of ECRH power. The plasma equilibrium profile is hollow and resembles the baseball seam geometry of the magnet which provides the confining magnetic field. This configuration coincides with the drift orbit of deeply trapped particles. The on-axis hollowness of the hot electron density profile is 50 /+-/ 10%, and the pressure profile is at least as hollow as, if not more than, the hot electron density profile. The hollow plasma equilibrium is macroscopically stable and generated in all the experimental conditions in which the machine has been operated. Small macroscopic plasma fluctuations in the range of the hot electron curvature drift frequency sometimes occur but their growth rate is small (ω/sub i//ω/sub r/ ≤ 10 -2 ) and saturate at very low level (δB//bar B/ ≤ 10 -3 ). Particle drift reversal is predicted to occur for the model pressure profile which best fits the experimental data under the typical operating conditions. No strong instability is observed when the plasma is near the drift reversal parameter regime, despite a theoretical prediction of instability under such conditions. The experiment shows that the cold electron population has no stabilizing effect to the hot electrons, which disagrees with current hot electron stability theories and results of previous maximum-B experiments. A theoretical analysis using MHD theory shows that the compressibility can stabilize a plasma with a hollowness of 20--30% in the Constance B mirror well. 57 refs

  6. Assessing the aging effect on auditory-verbal memory by Persian version of dichotic auditory verbal memory test

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zahra Shahidipour

    2014-01-01

    Conclusion: Based on the obtained results, significant reduction in auditory memory was seen in aged group and the Persian version of dichotic auditory-verbal memory test, like many other auditory verbal memory tests, showed the aging effects on auditory verbal memory performance.

  7. [Assessment of the efficiency of the auditory training in children with dyslalia and auditory processing disorders].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Włodarczyk, Elżbieta; Szkiełkowska, Agata; Skarżyński, Henryk; Piłka, Adam

    2011-01-01

    To assess effectiveness of the auditory training in children with dyslalia and central auditory processing disorders. Material consisted of 50 children aged 7-9-years-old. Children with articulation disorders stayed under long-term speech therapy care in the Auditory and Phoniatrics Clinic. All children were examined by a laryngologist and a phoniatrician. Assessment included tonal and impedance audiometry and speech therapists' and psychologist's consultations. Additionally, a set of electrophysiological examinations was performed - registration of N2, P2, N2, P2, P300 waves and psychoacoustic test of central auditory functions: FPT - frequency pattern test. Next children took part in the regular auditory training and attended speech therapy. Speech assessment followed treatment and therapy, again psychoacoustic tests were performed and P300 cortical potentials were recorded. After that statistical analyses were performed. Analyses revealed that application of auditory training in patients with dyslalia and other central auditory disorders is very efficient. Auditory training may be a very efficient therapy supporting speech therapy in children suffering from dyslalia coexisting with articulation and central auditory disorders and in children with educational problems of audiogenic origin. Copyright © 2011 Polish Otolaryngology Society. Published by Elsevier Urban & Partner (Poland). All rights reserved.

  8. Auditory Integration Training

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zahra Jafari

    2002-07-01

    Full Text Available Auditory integration training (AIT is a hearing enhancement training process for sensory input anomalies found in individuals with autism, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, dyslexia, hyperactivity, learning disability, language impairments, pervasive developmental disorder, central auditory processing disorder, attention deficit disorder, depressin, and hyperacute hearing. AIT, recently introduced in the United States, and has received much notice of late following the release of The Sound of a Moracle, by Annabel Stehli. In her book, Mrs. Stehli describes before and after auditory integration training experiences with her daughter, who was diagnosed at age four as having autism.

  9. Klinefelter syndrome has increased brain responses to auditory stimuli and motor output, but not to visual stimuli or Stroop adaptation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallentin, Mikkel; Skakkebæk, Anne; Bojesen, Anders; Fedder, Jens; Laurberg, Peter; Østergaard, John R; Hertz, Jens Michael; Pedersen, Anders Degn; Gravholt, Claus Højbjerg

    2016-01-01

    Klinefelter syndrome (47, XXY) (KS) is a genetic syndrome characterized by the presence of an extra X chromosome and low level of testosterone, resulting in a number of neurocognitive abnormalities, yet little is known about brain function. This study investigated the fMRI-BOLD response from KS relative to a group of Controls to basic motor, perceptual, executive and adaptation tasks. Participants (N: KS = 49; Controls = 49) responded to whether the words "GREEN" or "RED" were displayed in green or red (incongruent versus congruent colors). One of the colors was presented three times as often as the other, making it possible to study both congruency and adaptation effects independently. Auditory stimuli saying "GREEN" or "RED" had the same distribution, making it possible to study effects of perceptual modality as well as Frequency effects across modalities. We found that KS had an increased response to motor output in primary motor cortex and an increased response to auditory stimuli in auditory cortices, but no difference in primary visual cortices. KS displayed a diminished response to written visual stimuli in secondary visual regions near the Visual Word Form Area, consistent with the widespread dyslexia in the group. No neural differences were found in inhibitory control (Stroop) or in adaptation to differences in stimulus frequencies. Across groups we found a strong positive correlation between age and BOLD response in the brain's motor network with no difference between groups. No effects of testosterone level or brain volume were found. In sum, the present findings suggest that auditory and motor systems in KS are selectively affected, perhaps as a compensatory strategy, and that this is not a systemic effect as it is not seen in the visual system.

  10. Klinefelter syndrome has increased brain responses to auditory stimuli and motor output, but not to visual stimuli or Stroop adaptation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mikkel Wallentin

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Klinefelter syndrome (47, XXY (KS is a genetic syndrome characterized by the presence of an extra X chromosome and low level of testosterone, resulting in a number of neurocognitive abnormalities, yet little is known about brain function. This study investigated the fMRI-BOLD response from KS relative to a group of Controls to basic motor, perceptual, executive and adaptation tasks. Participants (N: KS = 49; Controls = 49 responded to whether the words “GREEN” or “RED” were displayed in green or red (incongruent versus congruent colors. One of the colors was presented three times as often as the other, making it possible to study both congruency and adaptation effects independently. Auditory stimuli saying “GREEN” or “RED” had the same distribution, making it possible to study effects of perceptual modality as well as Frequency effects across modalities. We found that KS had an increased response to motor output in primary motor cortex and an increased response to auditory stimuli in auditory cortices, but no difference in primary visual cortices. KS displayed a diminished response to written visual stimuli in secondary visual regions near the Visual Word Form Area, consistent with the widespread dyslexia in the group. No neural differences were found in inhibitory control (Stroop or in adaptation to differences in stimulus frequencies. Across groups we found a strong positive correlation between age and BOLD response in the brain's motor network with no difference between groups. No effects of testosterone level or brain volume were found. In sum, the present findings suggest that auditory and motor systems in KS are selectively affected, perhaps as a compensatory strategy, and that this is not a systemic effect as it is not seen in the visual system.

  11. Amygdala and auditory cortex exhibit distinct sensitivity to relevant acoustic features of auditory emotions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pannese, Alessia; Grandjean, Didier; Frühholz, Sascha

    2016-12-01

    Discriminating between auditory signals of different affective value is critical to successful social interaction. It is commonly held that acoustic decoding of such signals occurs in the auditory system, whereas affective decoding occurs in the amygdala. However, given that the amygdala receives direct subcortical projections that bypass the auditory cortex, it is possible that some acoustic decoding occurs in the amygdala as well, when the acoustic features are relevant for affective discrimination. We tested this hypothesis by combining functional neuroimaging with the neurophysiological phenomena of repetition suppression (RS) and repetition enhancement (RE) in human listeners. Our results show that both amygdala and auditory cortex responded differentially to physical voice features, suggesting that the amygdala and auditory cortex decode the affective quality of the voice not only by processing the emotional content from previously processed acoustic features, but also by processing the acoustic features themselves, when these are relevant to the identification of the voice's affective value. Specifically, we found that the auditory cortex is sensitive to spectral high-frequency voice cues when discriminating vocal anger from vocal fear and joy, whereas the amygdala is sensitive to vocal pitch when discriminating between negative vocal emotions (i.e., anger and fear). Vocal pitch is an instantaneously recognized voice feature, which is potentially transferred to the amygdala by direct subcortical projections. These results together provide evidence that, besides the auditory cortex, the amygdala too processes acoustic information, when this is relevant to the discrimination of auditory emotions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Absence of both auditory evoked potentials and auditory percepts dependent on timing cues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Starr, A; McPherson, D; Patterson, J; Don, M; Luxford, W; Shannon, R; Sininger, Y; Tonakawa, L; Waring, M

    1991-06-01

    An 11-yr-old girl had an absence of sensory components of auditory evoked potentials (brainstem, middle and long-latency) to click and tone burst stimuli that she could clearly hear. Psychoacoustic tests revealed a marked impairment of those auditory perceptions dependent on temporal cues, that is, lateralization of binaural clicks, change of binaural masked threshold with changes in signal phase, binaural beats, detection of paired monaural clicks, monaural detection of a silent gap in a sound, and monaural threshold elevation for short duration tones. In contrast, auditory functions reflecting intensity or frequency discriminations (difference limens) were only minimally impaired. Pure tone audiometry showed a moderate (50 dB) bilateral hearing loss with a disproportionate severe loss of word intelligibility. Those auditory evoked potentials that were preserved included (1) cochlear microphonics reflecting hair cell activity; (2) cortical sustained potentials reflecting processing of slowly changing signals; and (3) long-latency cognitive components (P300, processing negativity) reflecting endogenous auditory cognitive processes. Both the evoked potential and perceptual deficits are attributed to changes in temporal encoding of acoustic signals perhaps occurring at the synapse between hair cell and eighth nerve dendrites. The results from this patient are discussed in relation to previously published cases with absent auditory evoked potentials and preserved hearing.

  13. Musical experience shapes top-down auditory mechanisms: evidence from masking and auditory attention performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strait, Dana L; Kraus, Nina; Parbery-Clark, Alexandra; Ashley, Richard

    2010-03-01

    A growing body of research suggests that cognitive functions, such as attention and memory, drive perception by tuning sensory mechanisms to relevant acoustic features. Long-term musical experience also modulates lower-level auditory function, although the mechanisms by which this occurs remain uncertain. In order to tease apart the mechanisms that drive perceptual enhancements in musicians, we posed the question: do well-developed cognitive abilities fine-tune auditory perception in a top-down fashion? We administered a standardized battery of perceptual and cognitive tests to adult musicians and non-musicians, including tasks either more or less susceptible to cognitive control (e.g., backward versus simultaneous masking) and more or less dependent on auditory or visual processing (e.g., auditory versus visual attention). Outcomes indicate lower perceptual thresholds in musicians specifically for auditory tasks that relate with cognitive abilities, such as backward masking and auditory attention. These enhancements were observed in the absence of group differences for the simultaneous masking and visual attention tasks. Our results suggest that long-term musical practice strengthens cognitive functions and that these functions benefit auditory skills. Musical training bolsters higher-level mechanisms that, when impaired, relate to language and literacy deficits. Thus, musical training may serve to lessen the impact of these deficits by strengthening the corticofugal system for hearing. 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. The Planck Length and the Constancy of the Speed of Light in Five Dimensional Spacetime Parametrized with Two Time Coordinates

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Köhn, Christoph

    2017-01-01

    of additional time dimensions, we observe the existence of a minimal length scale, which we identify as the Planck scale. We derive an expression for the speed of light as a function of space and time and observe the constancy of the vacuum speed of light in the observable universe....

  15. Developmental programming of auditory learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melania Puddu

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available The basic structures involved in the development of auditory function and consequently in language acquisition are directed by genetic code, but the expression of individual genes may be altered by exposure to environmental factors, which if favorable, orient it in the proper direction, leading its development towards normality, if unfavorable, they deviate it from its physiological course. Early sensorial experience during the foetal period (i.e. intrauterine noise floor, sounds coming from the outside and attenuated by the uterine filter, particularly mother’s voice and modifications induced by it at the cochlear level represent the first example of programming in one of the earliest critical periods in development of the auditory system. This review will examine the factors that influence the developmental programming of auditory learning from the womb to the infancy. In particular it focuses on the following points: the prenatal auditory experience and the plastic phenomena presumably induced by it in the auditory system from the basilar membrane to the cortex;the involvement of these phenomena on language acquisition and on the perception of language communicative intention after birth;the consequences of auditory deprivation in critical periods of auditory development (i.e. premature interruption of foetal life.

  16. Optical angular constancy is maintained as a navigational control strategy when pursuing robots moving along complex pathways.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Wei; McBeath, Michael K; Sugar, Thomas G

    2015-03-24

    The optical navigational control strategy used to intercept moving targets was explored using a real-world object that travels along complex, evasive pathways. Fielders ran across a gymnasium attempting to catch a moving robot that varied in speed and direction, while ongoing position was measured using an infrared motion-capture system. Fielder running paths were compared with the predictions of three lateral control models, each based on maintaining a particular optical angle relative to the robotic target: (a) constant alignment angle (CAA), (b) constant eccentricity angle (CEA), and (c) linear optical trajectory (LOT). Findings reveal that running pathways were most consistent with maintenance of LOT and least consistent with CEA. This supports that fielders use the same optical control strategy of maintaining angular constancy using a LOT when navigating toward targets moving along complex pathways as when intercepting simple ballistic trajectories. In those cases in which a target dramatically deviates from its optical path, fielders appear to simply reset LOT parameters using a new constant angle value. Maintenance of such optical angular constancy has now been shown to work well with ballistic, complex, and evasive moving targets, confirming the LOT strategy as a robust, general-purpose optical control mechanism for navigating to intercept catchable targets, both airborne and ground based. © 2015 ARVO.

  17. Auditory short-term memory in the primate auditory cortex

    OpenAIRE

    Scott, Brian H.; Mishkin, Mortimer

    2015-01-01

    Sounds are fleeting, and assembling the sequence of inputs at the ear into a coherent percept requires auditory memory across various time scales. Auditory short-term memory comprises at least two components: an active ���working memory��� bolstered by rehearsal, and a sensory trace that may be passively retained. Working memory relies on representations recalled from long-term memory, and their rehearsal may require phonological mechanisms unique to humans. The sensory component, passive sho...

  18. Integration of auditory and visual speech information

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hall, M.; Smeele, P.M.T.; Kuhl, P.K.

    1998-01-01

    The integration of auditory and visual speech is observed when modes specify different places of articulation. Influences of auditory variation on integration were examined using consonant identifi-cation, plus quality and similarity ratings. Auditory identification predicted auditory-visual

  19. Auditory Dysfunction in Patients with Cerebrovascular Disease

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sadaharu Tabuchi

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Auditory dysfunction is a common clinical symptom that can induce profound effects on the quality of life of those affected. Cerebrovascular disease (CVD is the most prevalent neurological disorder today, but it has generally been considered a rare cause of auditory dysfunction. However, a substantial proportion of patients with stroke might have auditory dysfunction that has been underestimated due to difficulties with evaluation. The present study reviews relationships between auditory dysfunction and types of CVD including cerebral infarction, intracerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, cerebrovascular malformation, moyamoya disease, and superficial siderosis. Recent advances in the etiology, anatomy, and strategies to diagnose and treat these conditions are described. The numbers of patients with CVD accompanied by auditory dysfunction will increase as the population ages. Cerebrovascular diseases often include the auditory system, resulting in various types of auditory dysfunctions, such as unilateral or bilateral deafness, cortical deafness, pure word deafness, auditory agnosia, and auditory hallucinations, some of which are subtle and can only be detected by precise psychoacoustic and electrophysiological testing. The contribution of CVD to auditory dysfunction needs to be understood because CVD can be fatal if overlooked.

  20. Weak responses to auditory feedback perturbation during articulation in persons who stutter: evidence for abnormal auditory-motor transformation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shanqing Cai

    Full Text Available Previous empirical observations have led researchers to propose that auditory feedback (the auditory perception of self-produced sounds when speaking functions abnormally in the speech motor systems of persons who stutter (PWS. Researchers have theorized that an important neural basis of stuttering is the aberrant integration of auditory information into incipient speech motor commands. Because of the circumstantial support for these hypotheses and the differences and contradictions between them, there is a need for carefully designed experiments that directly examine auditory-motor integration during speech production in PWS. In the current study, we used real-time manipulation of auditory feedback to directly investigate whether the speech motor system of PWS utilizes auditory feedback abnormally during articulation and to characterize potential deficits of this auditory-motor integration. Twenty-one PWS and 18 fluent control participants were recruited. Using a short-latency formant-perturbation system, we examined participants' compensatory responses to unanticipated perturbation of auditory feedback of the first formant frequency during the production of the monophthong [ε]. The PWS showed compensatory responses that were qualitatively similar to the controls' and had close-to-normal latencies (∼150 ms, but the magnitudes of their responses were substantially and significantly smaller than those of the control participants (by 47% on average, p<0.05. Measurements of auditory acuity indicate that the weaker-than-normal compensatory responses in PWS were not attributable to a deficit in low-level auditory processing. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that stuttering is associated with functional defects in the inverse models responsible for the transformation from the domain of auditory targets and auditory error information into the domain of speech motor commands.

  1. Integration of Visual Information in Auditory Cortex Promotes Auditory Scene Analysis through Multisensory Binding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atilgan, Huriye; Town, Stephen M; Wood, Katherine C; Jones, Gareth P; Maddox, Ross K; Lee, Adrian K C; Bizley, Jennifer K

    2018-02-07

    How and where in the brain audio-visual signals are bound to create multimodal objects remains unknown. One hypothesis is that temporal coherence between dynamic multisensory signals provides a mechanism for binding stimulus features across sensory modalities. Here, we report that when the luminance of a visual stimulus is temporally coherent with the amplitude fluctuations of one sound in a mixture, the representation of that sound is enhanced in auditory cortex. Critically, this enhancement extends to include both binding and non-binding features of the sound. We demonstrate that visual information conveyed from visual cortex via the phase of the local field potential is combined with auditory information within auditory cortex. These data provide evidence that early cross-sensory binding provides a bottom-up mechanism for the formation of cross-sensory objects and that one role for multisensory binding in auditory cortex is to support auditory scene analysis. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Interaction of language, auditory and memory brain networks in auditory verbal hallucinations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Curcic-Blake, Branislava; Ford, Judith M.; Hubl, Daniela; Orlov, Natasza D.; Sommer, Iris E.; Waters, Flavie; Allen, Paul; Jardri, Renaud; Woodruff, Peter W.; David, Olivier; Mulert, Christoph; Woodward, Todd S.; Aleman, Andre

    Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) occur in psychotic disorders, but also as a symptom of other conditions and even in healthy people. Several current theories on the origin of AVH converge, with neuroimaging studies suggesting that the language, auditory and memory/limbic networks are of

  3. Procedures for central auditory processing screening in schoolchildren.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carvalho, Nádia Giulian de; Ubiali, Thalita; Amaral, Maria Isabel Ramos do; Santos, Maria Francisca Colella

    2018-03-22

    Central auditory processing screening in schoolchildren has led to debates in literature, both regarding the protocol to be used and the importance of actions aimed at prevention and promotion of auditory health. Defining effective screening procedures for central auditory processing is a challenge in Audiology. This study aimed to analyze the scientific research on central auditory processing screening and discuss the effectiveness of the procedures utilized. A search was performed in the SciELO and PUBMed databases by two researchers. The descriptors used in Portuguese and English were: auditory processing, screening, hearing, auditory perception, children, auditory tests and their respective terms in Portuguese. original articles involving schoolchildren, auditory screening of central auditory skills and articles in Portuguese or English. studies with adult and/or neonatal populations, peripheral auditory screening only, and duplicate articles. After applying the described criteria, 11 articles were included. At the international level, central auditory processing screening methods used were: screening test for auditory processing disorder and its revised version, screening test for auditory processing, scale of auditory behaviors, children's auditory performance scale and Feather Squadron. In the Brazilian scenario, the procedures used were the simplified auditory processing assessment and Zaidan's battery of tests. At the international level, the screening test for auditory processing and Feather Squadron batteries stand out as the most comprehensive evaluation of hearing skills. At the national level, there is a paucity of studies that use methods evaluating more than four skills, and are normalized by age group. The use of simplified auditory processing assessment and questionnaires can be complementary in the search for an easy access and low-cost alternative in the auditory screening of Brazilian schoolchildren. Interactive tools should be proposed, that

  4. Speakers' acceptance of real-time speech exchange indicates that we use auditory feedback to specify the meaning of what we say.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lind, Andreas; Hall, Lars; Breidegard, Björn; Balkenius, Christian; Johansson, Petter

    2014-06-01

    Speech is usually assumed to start with a clearly defined preverbal message, which provides a benchmark for self-monitoring and a robust sense of agency for one's utterances. However, an alternative hypothesis states that speakers often have no detailed preview of what they are about to say, and that they instead use auditory feedback to infer the meaning of their words. In the experiment reported here, participants performed a Stroop color-naming task while we covertly manipulated their auditory feedback in real time so that they said one thing but heard themselves saying something else. Under ideal timing conditions, two thirds of these semantic exchanges went undetected by the participants, and in 85% of all nondetected exchanges, the inserted words were experienced as self-produced. These findings indicate that the sense of agency for speech has a strong inferential component, and that auditory feedback of one's own voice acts as a pathway for semantic monitoring, potentially overriding other feedback loops. © The Author(s) 2014.

  5. The Effect of Auditory and Visual Motion Picture Descriptive Modalities in Teaching Perceptual-Motor Skills Used in the Grading of Cereal Grains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hannemann, James William

    This study was designed to discover whether a student learns to imitate the skills demonstrated in a motion picture more accurately when the supportive descriptive terminology is presented in an auditory (spoken) form or in a visual (captions) form. A six-minute color 16mm film was produced--"Determining the Test Weight per Bushel of Yellow Corn".…

  6. On analyzing colour constancy approach for improving SURF detector performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zulkiey, Mohd Asyraf; Zaki, Wan Mimi Diyana Wan; Hussain, Aini; Mustafa, Mohd. Marzuki

    2012-04-01

    Robust key point detector plays a crucial role in obtaining a good tracking feature. The main challenge in outdoor tracking is the illumination change due to various reasons such as weather fluctuation and occlusion. This paper approaches the illumination change problem by transforming the input image through colour constancy algorithm before applying the SURF detector. Masked grey world approach is chosen because of its ability to perform well under local as well as global illumination change. Every image is transformed to imitate the canonical illuminant and Gaussian distribution is used to model the global change. The simulation results show that the average number of detected key points have increased by 69.92%. Moreover, the average of improved performance cases far out weight the degradation case where the former is improved by 215.23%. The approach is suitable for tracking implementation where sudden illumination occurs frequently and robust key point detection is needed.

  7. Auditory prediction during speaking and listening.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sato, Marc; Shiller, Douglas M

    2018-02-02

    In the present EEG study, the role of auditory prediction in speech was explored through the comparison of auditory cortical responses during active speaking and passive listening to the same acoustic speech signals. Two manipulations of sensory prediction accuracy were used during the speaking task: (1) a real-time change in vowel F1 feedback (reducing prediction accuracy relative to unaltered feedback) and (2) presenting a stable auditory target rather than a visual cue to speak (enhancing auditory prediction accuracy during baseline productions, and potentially enhancing the perturbing effect of altered feedback). While subjects compensated for the F1 manipulation, no difference between the auditory-cue and visual-cue conditions were found. Under visually-cued conditions, reduced N1/P2 amplitude was observed during speaking vs. listening, reflecting a motor-to-sensory prediction. In addition, a significant correlation was observed between the magnitude of behavioral compensatory F1 response and the magnitude of this speaking induced suppression (SIS) for P2 during the altered auditory feedback phase, where a stronger compensatory decrease in F1 was associated with a stronger the SIS effect. Finally, under the auditory-cued condition, an auditory repetition-suppression effect was observed in N1/P2 amplitude during the listening task but not active speaking, suggesting that auditory predictive processes during speaking and passive listening are functionally distinct. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Adaptation in the auditory system: an overview

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David ePérez-González

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available The early stages of the auditory system need to preserve the timing information of sounds in order to extract the basic features of acoustic stimuli. At the same time, different processes of neuronal adaptation occur at several levels to further process the auditory information. For instance, auditory nerve fiber responses already experience adaptation of their firing rates, a type of response that can be found in many other auditory nuclei and may be useful for emphasizing the onset of the stimuli. However, it is at higher levels in the auditory hierarchy where more sophisticated types of neuronal processing take place. For example, stimulus-specific adaptation, where neurons show adaptation to frequent, repetitive stimuli, but maintain their responsiveness to stimuli with different physical characteristics, thus representing a distinct kind of processing that may play a role in change and deviance detection. In the auditory cortex, adaptation takes more elaborate forms, and contributes to the processing of complex sequences, auditory scene analysis and attention. Here we review the multiple types of adaptation that occur in the auditory system, which are part of the pool of resources that the neurons employ to process the auditory scene, and are critical to a proper understanding of the neuronal mechanisms that govern auditory perception.

  9. Temporal envelope processing in the human auditory cortex: response and interconnections of auditory cortical areas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gourévitch, Boris; Le Bouquin Jeannès, Régine; Faucon, Gérard; Liégeois-Chauvel, Catherine

    2008-03-01

    Temporal envelope processing in the human auditory cortex has an important role in language analysis. In this paper, depth recordings of local field potentials in response to amplitude modulated white noises were used to design maps of activation in primary, secondary and associative auditory areas and to study the propagation of the cortical activity between them. The comparison of activations between auditory areas was based on a signal-to-noise ratio associated with the response to amplitude modulation (AM). The functional connectivity between cortical areas was quantified by the directed coherence (DCOH) applied to auditory evoked potentials. This study shows the following reproducible results on twenty subjects: (1) the primary auditory cortex (PAC), the secondary cortices (secondary auditory cortex (SAC) and planum temporale (PT)), the insular gyrus, the Brodmann area (BA) 22 and the posterior part of T1 gyrus (T1Post) respond to AM in both hemispheres. (2) A stronger response to AM was observed in SAC and T1Post of the left hemisphere independent of the modulation frequency (MF), and in the left BA22 for MFs 8 and 16Hz, compared to those in the right. (3) The activation and propagation features emphasized at least four different types of temporal processing. (4) A sequential activation of PAC, SAC and BA22 areas was clearly visible at all MFs, while other auditory areas may be more involved in parallel processing upon a stream originating from primary auditory area, which thus acts as a distribution hub. These results suggest that different psychological information is carried by the temporal envelope of sounds relative to the rate of amplitude modulation.

  10. Tactile feedback improves auditory spatial localization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Monica eGori

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Our recent studies suggest that congenitally blind adults have severely impaired thresholds in an auditory spatial-bisection task, pointing to the importance of vision in constructing complex auditory spatial maps (Gori et al., 2014. To explore strategies that may improve the auditory spatial sense in visually impaired people, we investigated the impact of tactile feedback on spatial auditory localization in 48 blindfolded sighted subjects. We measured auditory spatial bisection thresholds before and after training, either with tactile feedback, verbal feedback or no feedback. Audio thresholds were first measured with a spatial bisection task: subjects judged whether the second sound of a three sound sequence was spatially closer to the first or the third sound. The tactile-feedback group underwent two audio-tactile feedback sessions of 100 trials, where each auditory trial was followed by the same spatial sequence played on the subject’s forearm; auditory spatial bisection thresholds were evaluated after each session. In the verbal-feedback condition, the positions of the sounds were verbally reported to the subject after each feedback trial. The no-feedback group did the same sequence of trials, with no feedback. Performance improved significantly only after audio-tactile feedback. The results suggest that direct tactile feedback interacts with the auditory spatial localization system, possibly by a process of cross-sensory recalibration. Control tests with the subject rotated suggested that this effect occurs only when the tactile and acoustic sequences are spatially coherent. Our results suggest that the tactile system can be used to recalibrate the auditory sense of space. These results encourage the possibility of designing rehabilitation programs to help blind persons establish a robust auditory sense of space, through training with the tactile modality.

  11. CONSTANCES: a general prospective population-based cohort for occupational and environmental epidemiology: cohort profile.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldberg, Marcel; Carton, Matthieu; Descatha, Alexis; Leclerc, Annette; Roquelaure, Yves; Santin, Gaëlle; Zins, Marie

    2017-01-01

    WHY THE COHORT WAS SET UP?: CONSTANCES is a general-purpose cohort with a focus on occupational and environmental factors. CONSTANCES was designed as a randomly selected sample of French adults aged 18-69 years at inception; 200 000 participants will be included. At enrolment, the participants are invited to complete questionnaires and to attend a health screening centre (HSC) for a health examination. A biobank will be set up. The follow-up includes an yearly self-administered questionnaire, a periodic visit to an HSC and linkage to social and national health administrative databases. Data collected for participants include social and demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, life events and behaviours. Regarding occupational and environmental factors, a wealth of data on organisational, chemical, biological, biomechanical and psychosocial lifelong exposure, as well as residential characteristics, are collected at enrolment and during follow-up. The health data cover a wide spectrum: self-reported health scales, reported prevalent and incident diseases, long-term chronic diseases and hospitalisations, sick-leaves, handicaps, limitations, disabilities and injuries, healthcare usage and services provided, and causes of death. To take into account non-participation and attrition, a random cohort of non-participants was set up and will be followed through the same national databases as participants. Inclusions begun at the end of 2012 and more than 110 000 participants were already included by September 2016. Several projects on occupational and environmental risks already applied to a public call for nested research projects. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

  12. Auditory preferences of young children with and without hearing loss for meaningful auditory-visual compound stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zupan, Barbra; Sussman, Joan E

    2009-01-01

    Experiment 1 examined modality preferences in children and adults with normal hearing to combined auditory-visual stimuli. Experiment 2 compared modality preferences in children using cochlear implants participating in an auditory emphasized therapy approach to the children with normal hearing from Experiment 1. A second objective in both experiments was to evaluate the role of familiarity in these preferences. Participants were exposed to randomized blocks of photographs and sounds of ten familiar and ten unfamiliar animals in auditory-only, visual-only and auditory-visual trials. Results indicated an overall auditory preference in children, regardless of hearing status, and a visual preference in adults. Familiarity only affected modality preferences in adults who showed a strong visual preference to unfamiliar stimuli only. The similar degree of auditory responses in children with hearing loss to those from children with normal hearing is an original finding and lends support to an auditory emphasis for habilitation. Readers will be able to (1) Describe the pattern of modality preferences reported in young children without hearing loss; (2) Recognize that differences in communication mode may affect modality preferences in young children with hearing loss; and (3) Understand the role of familiarity in modality preferences in children with and without hearing loss.

  13. The Relationship between Types of Attention and Auditory Processing Skills: Reconsidering Auditory Processing Disorder Diagnosis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stavrinos, Georgios; Iliadou, Vassiliki-Maria; Edwards, Lindsey; Sirimanna, Tony; Bamiou, Doris-Eva

    2018-01-01

    Measures of attention have been found to correlate with specific auditory processing tests in samples of children suspected of Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), but these relationships have not been adequately investigated. Despite evidence linking auditory attention and deficits/symptoms of APD, measures of attention are not routinely used in APD diagnostic protocols. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between auditory and visual attention tests and auditory processing tests in children with APD and to assess whether a proposed diagnostic protocol for APD, including measures of attention, could provide useful information for APD management. A pilot study including 27 children, aged 7–11 years, referred for APD assessment was conducted. The validated test of everyday attention for children, with visual and auditory attention tasks, the listening in spatialized noise sentences test, the children's communication checklist questionnaire and tests from a standard APD diagnostic test battery were administered. Pearson's partial correlation analysis examining the relationship between these tests and Cochrane's Q test analysis comparing proportions of diagnosis under each proposed battery were conducted. Divided auditory and divided auditory-visual attention strongly correlated with the dichotic digits test, r = 0.68, p attention battery identified as having Attention Deficits (ADs). The proposed APD battery excluding AD cases did not have a significantly different diagnosis proportion than the standard APD battery. Finally, the newly proposed diagnostic battery, identifying an inattentive subtype of APD, identified five children who would have otherwise been considered not having ADs. The findings show that a subgroup of children with APD demonstrates underlying sustained and divided attention deficits. Attention deficits in children with APD appear to be centred around the auditory modality but further examination of types of attention in both

  14. Auditory interfaces: The human perceiver

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colburn, H. Steven

    1991-01-01

    A brief introduction to the basic auditory abilities of the human perceiver with particular attention toward issues that may be important for the design of auditory interfaces is presented. The importance of appropriate auditory inputs to observers with normal hearing is probably related to the role of hearing as an omnidirectional, early warning system and to its role as the primary vehicle for communication of strong personal feelings.

  15. Auditory attention activates peripheral visual cortex.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anthony D Cate

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Recent neuroimaging studies have revealed that putatively unimodal regions of visual cortex can be activated during auditory tasks in sighted as well as in blind subjects. However, the task determinants and functional significance of auditory occipital activations (AOAs remains unclear. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We examined AOAs in an intermodal selective attention task to distinguish whether they were stimulus-bound or recruited by higher-level cognitive operations associated with auditory attention. Cortical surface mapping showed that auditory occipital activations were localized to retinotopic visual cortex subserving the far peripheral visual field. AOAs depended strictly on the sustained engagement of auditory attention and were enhanced in more difficult listening conditions. In contrast, unattended sounds produced no AOAs regardless of their intensity, spatial location, or frequency. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Auditory attention, but not passive exposure to sounds, routinely activated peripheral regions of visual cortex when subjects attended to sound sources outside the visual field. Functional connections between auditory cortex and visual cortex subserving the peripheral visual field appear to underlie the generation of AOAs, which may reflect the priming of visual regions to process soon-to-appear objects associated with unseen sound sources.

  16. Review: Auditory Integration Training

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zahra Ja'fari

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available Auditory integration training (AIT is a hearing enhancement training process for sensory input anomalies found in individuals with autism, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, dyslexia, hyperactivity, learning disability, language impairments, pervasive developmental disorder, central auditory processing disorder, attention deficit disorder, depression, and hyper acute hearing. AIT, recently introduced in the United States, and has received much notice of late following the release of the sound of a miracle, by Annabel Stehli. In her book, Mrs. Stehli describes before and after auditory integration training experiences with her daughter, who was diagnosed at age four as having autism.

  17. Neuronal Correlates of Auditory Streaming in Monkey Auditory Cortex for Tone Sequences without Spectral Differences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stanislava Knyazeva

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This study finds a neuronal correlate of auditory perceptual streaming in the primary auditory cortex for sequences of tone complexes that have the same amplitude spectrum but a different phase spectrum. Our finding is based on microelectrode recordings of multiunit activity from 270 cortical sites in three awake macaque monkeys. The monkeys were presented with repeated sequences of a tone triplet that consisted of an A tone, a B tone, another A tone and then a pause. The A and B tones were composed of unresolved harmonics formed by adding the harmonics in cosine phase, in alternating phase, or in random phase. A previous psychophysical study on humans revealed that when the A and B tones are similar, humans integrate them into a single auditory stream; when the A and B tones are dissimilar, humans segregate them into separate auditory streams. We found that the similarity of neuronal rate responses to the triplets was highest when all A and B tones had cosine phase. Similarity was intermediate when the A tones had cosine phase and the B tones had alternating phase. Similarity was lowest when the A tones had cosine phase and the B tones had random phase. The present study corroborates and extends previous reports, showing similar correspondences between neuronal activity in the primary auditory cortex and auditory streaming of sound sequences. It also is consistent with Fishman’s population separation model of auditory streaming.

  18. Neuronal Correlates of Auditory Streaming in Monkey Auditory Cortex for Tone Sequences without Spectral Differences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knyazeva, Stanislava; Selezneva, Elena; Gorkin, Alexander; Aggelopoulos, Nikolaos C; Brosch, Michael

    2018-01-01

    This study finds a neuronal correlate of auditory perceptual streaming in the primary auditory cortex for sequences of tone complexes that have the same amplitude spectrum but a different phase spectrum. Our finding is based on microelectrode recordings of multiunit activity from 270 cortical sites in three awake macaque monkeys. The monkeys were presented with repeated sequences of a tone triplet that consisted of an A tone, a B tone, another A tone and then a pause. The A and B tones were composed of unresolved harmonics formed by adding the harmonics in cosine phase, in alternating phase, or in random phase. A previous psychophysical study on humans revealed that when the A and B tones are similar, humans integrate them into a single auditory stream; when the A and B tones are dissimilar, humans segregate them into separate auditory streams. We found that the similarity of neuronal rate responses to the triplets was highest when all A and B tones had cosine phase. Similarity was intermediate when the A tones had cosine phase and the B tones had alternating phase. Similarity was lowest when the A tones had cosine phase and the B tones had random phase. The present study corroborates and extends previous reports, showing similar correspondences between neuronal activity in the primary auditory cortex and auditory streaming of sound sequences. It also is consistent with Fishman's population separation model of auditory streaming.

  19. Neurofeedback-Based Enhancement of Single-Trial Auditory Evoked Potentials: Treatment of Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in Schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rieger, Kathryn; Rarra, Marie-Helene; Diaz Hernandez, Laura; Hubl, Daniela; Koenig, Thomas

    2018-03-01

    Auditory verbal hallucinations depend on a broad neurobiological network ranging from the auditory system to language as well as memory-related processes. As part of this, the auditory N100 event-related potential (ERP) component is attenuated in patients with schizophrenia, with stronger attenuation occurring during auditory verbal hallucinations. Changes in the N100 component assumingly reflect disturbed responsiveness of the auditory system toward external stimuli in schizophrenia. With this premise, we investigated the therapeutic utility of neurofeedback training to modulate the auditory-evoked N100 component in patients with schizophrenia and associated auditory verbal hallucinations. Ten patients completed electroencephalography neurofeedback training for modulation of N100 (treatment condition) or another unrelated component, P200 (control condition). On a behavioral level, only the control group showed a tendency for symptom improvement in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale total score in a pre-/postcomparison ( t (4) = 2.71, P = .054); however, no significant differences were found in specific hallucination related symptoms ( t (7) = -0.53, P = .62). There was no significant overall effect of neurofeedback training on ERP components in our paradigm; however, we were able to identify different learning patterns, and found a correlation between learning and improvement in auditory verbal hallucination symptoms across training sessions ( r = 0.664, n = 9, P = .05). This effect results, with cautious interpretation due to the small sample size, primarily from the treatment group ( r = 0.97, n = 4, P = .03). In particular, a within-session learning parameter showed utility for predicting symptom improvement with neurofeedback training. In conclusion, patients with schizophrenia and associated auditory verbal hallucinations who exhibit a learning pattern more characterized by within-session aptitude may benefit from electroencephalography neurofeedback

  20. Pre-Attentive Auditory Processing of Lexicality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobsen, Thomas; Horvath, Janos; Schroger, Erich; Lattner, Sonja; Widmann, Andreas; Winkler, Istvan

    2004-01-01

    The effects of lexicality on auditory change detection based on auditory sensory memory representations were investigated by presenting oddball sequences of repeatedly presented stimuli, while participants ignored the auditory stimuli. In a cross-linguistic study of Hungarian and German participants, stimulus sequences were composed of words that…

  1. Constance Pascal's Chagrins d'amour et psychoses (1935): a French psychiatrist's views on psychoanalysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gordon, Felicia

    2015-03-01

    In 1935 Constance Pascal (1877-1937), France's first woman psychiatrist, published Chagrins d'amour et psychoses (The Sorrows of Love and Psychosis). My analysis of her monograph will consider: her major article leading up to Chagrins; Pascal's debts to her predecessors, particularly Morel and Kretschmer; her relationship to the French psychoanalytic movement; her co-option of psychoanalysis as a tool in her own therapeutic work with patients in the state psychiatric system; and her social/cultural interpretations of her woman patients. The literary and philosophic aspects of her work are emphasized as well as her contribution to French psychiatry. © The Author(s) 2014.

  2. Airborne remote sensing of water constituents at Lake Constance; Flugzeuggestuetzte Fernerkundung von Wasserinhaltsstoffen im Bodensee

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Heege, T.

    2000-12-01

    An inversion scheme for the retrieval of water constituents in case II waters from airborne multispectral scanner data is presented. This method includes modules for the calculation of aerosol types and contents, for the correction of sun glitter radiances and for the atmospheric correction of the image data. In 1996 extensive measurements were performed to determine the optical properties in Lake Constance. In combination with data collected through many years within a project of the German Research Foundation (SFB 248), for the first time a data set of inherent optical parameters being specific for typical substances in the Lake could be established. By means of the inversions scheme and the specific optical properties, geo-coded maps of suspended matter and chlorophyll were calculated from the multispectral airborne measurements above Lake Constance. (orig.) [German] Zur Berechnung von Wasserinhaltsstoffen aus Daten flugzeuggetragener Multispektralscanner wird ein Inversionsverfahren vorgestellt. Es beinhaltet die Bestimmung von Aerosoltypen und -konzentrationen, die bildpunktweise Korrektur von Oberflaechenreflexionen des Sonnenlichtes und die Atmosphaerenkorrektur von Fernerkundungsdaten. Zur Erfassung der optischen Groessen im Wasser wurden umfangreiche Messkampagnen am Bodensee durchgefuehrt. Zusammen mit vieljaehrigen Datensaetzen des DFG-Sonderforschungsbereichs 248 wird damit erstmalig ein vollstaendiger Satz der inhaerenten optischen stoffspezifischen Groessen fuer den Bodensee bestimmt. Zur Validation werden diese anhand von verschiedenen Modellen zur Verknuepfung der inhaerenten Streu- und Absorptionskoeffizienten mit den messbaren Groessen Extinktion und diffuse Reflexion auf Konsistenz geprueft. Aus Befliegungen mit dem Multispektralscanner Daedalus werden mit den vorgestellten Verfahren und optischen Groessen georeferenzierte Verteilungskarten von Schwebstoff und Phytoplankton-Pigmenten berechnet. (orig.)

  3. Smart light random memory sprays Retinex: a fast Retinex implementation for high-quality brightness adjustment and color correction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banić, Nikola; Lončarić, Sven

    2015-11-01

    Removing the influence of illumination on image colors and adjusting the brightness across the scene are important image enhancement problems. This is achieved by applying adequate color constancy and brightness adjustment methods. One of the earliest models to deal with both of these problems was the Retinex theory. Some of the Retinex implementations tend to give high-quality results by performing local operations, but they are computationally relatively slow. One of the recent Retinex implementations is light random sprays Retinex (LRSR). In this paper, a new method is proposed for brightness adjustment and color correction that overcomes the main disadvantages of LRSR. There are three main contributions of this paper. First, a concept of memory sprays is proposed to reduce the number of LRSR's per-pixel operations to a constant regardless of the parameter values, thereby enabling a fast Retinex-based local image enhancement. Second, an effective remapping of image intensities is proposed that results in significantly higher quality. Third, the problem of LRSR's halo effect is significantly reduced by using an alternative illumination processing method. The proposed method enables a fast Retinex-based image enhancement by processing Retinex paths in a constant number of steps regardless of the path size. Due to the halo effect removal and remapping of the resulting intensities, the method outperforms many of the well-known image enhancement methods in terms of resulting image quality. The results are presented and discussed. It is shown that the proposed method outperforms most of the tested methods in terms of image brightness adjustment, color correction, and computational speed.

  4. Plasticity in the Primary Auditory Cortex, Not What You Think it is: Implications for Basic and Clinical Auditory Neuroscience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weinberger, Norman M.

    2013-01-01

    Standard beliefs that the function of the primary auditory cortex (A1) is the analysis of sound have proven to be incorrect. Its involvement in learning, memory and other complex processes in both animals and humans is now well-established, although often not appreciated. Auditory coding is strongly modifed by associative learning, evident as associative representational plasticity (ARP) in which the representation of an acoustic dimension, like frequency, is re-organized to emphasize a sound that has become behaviorally important. For example, the frequency tuning of a cortical neuron can be shifted to match that of a significant sound and the representational area of sounds that acquire behavioral importance can be increased. ARP depends on the learning strategy used to solve an auditory problem and the increased cortical area confers greater strength of auditory memory. Thus, primary auditory cortex is involved in cognitive processes, transcending its assumed function of auditory stimulus analysis. The implications for basic neuroscience and clinical auditory neuroscience are presented and suggestions for remediation of auditory processing disorders are introduced. PMID:25356375

  5. Description of the Fokker-Plank code used to model ECRH of the Constance 2 plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mauel, M.E.

    1982-01-01

    The time-dependent Fokker-Plank code which is used to model the development of the electron velocity distribution during ECRH of the Constance 2 mirror-confined plasma is described in this report. The ECRH is modeled by the bounce-averaged quasilinear theory derived by Mauel. The effect of collisions are found by taking the appropriate gradients of the Rosenbluth potentials, and the electron distribution is advanced in time by using a modified alternating direction implicit (ADI) technique as explained by Killeen and Marx. The program was written in LISP to be run in the MACSYMA environment of the MACSYMA Consortium's PDP-10 computer

  6. Investigation of the dispersion of airborne pollutants in the Upper Rhine and Lake Constance region

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fiedler, F.; Adrian, G.; Kohler, M.

    1991-01-01

    The aim of the project is to calculate the regional flow and propagation conditions using the expensive three-dimensional meteorological model, the ''Karlsruher Atmosphaerisches Mesoskaliges Modell'' (KAMM) in order to derive the immission and the deposition of the conducting substance of pollutant matter, i.e., sulphur dioxide. In this report, calculations of the flowing field are described for the region Upper Rhine - Lake of Constance''. In the last part, the concentration fields for SO 2 are calculated for the region for typical large-area atmospheric conditions with disclosure of sources. An appraising discussion of the results concludes this work. (orig.) [de

  7. Modeling human color categorization: Color discrimination and color memory

    OpenAIRE

    Heskes, T.; van den Broek, Egon; Lucas, P.; Hendriks, Maria A.; Vuurpijl, L.G.; Puts, M.J.H.; Wiegerinck, W.

    2003-01-01

    Color matching in Content-Based Image Retrieval is done using a color space and measuring distances between colors. Such an approach yields non-intuitive results for the user. We introduce color categories (or focal colors), determine that they are valid, and use them in two experiments. The experiments conducted prove the difference between color categorization by the cognitive processes color discrimination and color memory. In addition, they yield a Color Look-Up Table, which can improve c...

  8. A Brain System for Auditory Working Memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Sukhbinder; Joseph, Sabine; Gander, Phillip E; Barascud, Nicolas; Halpern, Andrea R; Griffiths, Timothy D

    2016-04-20

    The brain basis for auditory working memory, the process of actively maintaining sounds in memory over short periods of time, is controversial. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging in human participants, we demonstrate that the maintenance of single tones in memory is associated with activation in auditory cortex. In addition, sustained activation was observed in hippocampus and inferior frontal gyrus. Multivoxel pattern analysis showed that patterns of activity in auditory cortex and left inferior frontal gyrus distinguished the tone that was maintained in memory. Functional connectivity during maintenance was demonstrated between auditory cortex and both the hippocampus and inferior frontal cortex. The data support a system for auditory working memory based on the maintenance of sound-specific representations in auditory cortex by projections from higher-order areas, including the hippocampus and frontal cortex. In this work, we demonstrate a system for maintaining sound in working memory based on activity in auditory cortex, hippocampus, and frontal cortex, and functional connectivity among them. Specifically, our work makes three advances from the previous work. First, we robustly demonstrate hippocampal involvement in all phases of auditory working memory (encoding, maintenance, and retrieval): the role of hippocampus in working memory is controversial. Second, using a pattern classification technique, we show that activity in the auditory cortex and inferior frontal gyrus is specific to the maintained tones in working memory. Third, we show long-range connectivity of auditory cortex to hippocampus and frontal cortex, which may be responsible for keeping such representations active during working memory maintenance. Copyright © 2016 Kumar et al.

  9. Functional studies of the human auditory cortex, auditory memory and musical hallucinations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goycoolea, Marcos; Mena, Ismael; Neubauer, Sonia

    2004-01-01

    Objectives. 1. To determine which areas of the cerebral cortex are activated stimulating the left ear with pure tones, and what type of stimulation occurs (eg. excitatory or inhibitory) in these different areas. 2. To use this information as an initial step to develop a normal functional data base for future studies. 3. To try to determine if there is a biological substrate to the process of recalling previous auditory perceptions and if possible, suggest a locus for auditory memory. Method. Brain perfusion single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) evaluation was conducted: 1-2) Using auditory stimulation with pure tones in 4 volunteers with normal hearing. 3) In a patient with bilateral profound hearing loss who had auditory perception of previous musical experiences; while injected with Tc99m HMPAO while she was having the sensation of hearing a well known melody. Results. Both in the patient with auditory hallucinations and the normal controls -stimulated with pure tones- there was a statistically significant increase in perfusion in Brodmann's area 39, more intense on the right side (right to left p < 0.05). With a lesser intensity there was activation in the adjacent area 40 and there was intense activation also in the executive frontal cortex areas 6, 8, 9, and 10 of Brodmann. There was also activation of area 7 of Brodmann; an audio-visual association area; more marked on the right side in the patient and the normal stimulated controls. In the subcortical structures there was also marked activation in the patient with hallucinations in both lentiform nuclei, thalamus and caudate nuclei also more intense in the right hemisphere, 5, 4.7 and 4.2 S.D. above the mean respectively and 5, 3.3, and 3 S.D. above the normal mean in the left hemisphere respectively. Similar findings were observed in normal controls. Conclusions. After auditory stimulation with pure tones in the left ear of normal female volunteers, there is bilateral activation of area 39

  10. An analysis of nonlinear dynamics underlying neural activity related to auditory induction in the rat auditory cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noto, M; Nishikawa, J; Tateno, T

    2016-03-24

    A sound interrupted by silence is perceived as discontinuous. However, when high-intensity noise is inserted during the silence, the missing sound may be perceptually restored and be heard as uninterrupted. This illusory phenomenon is called auditory induction. Recent electrophysiological studies have revealed that auditory induction is associated with the primary auditory cortex (A1). Although experimental evidence has been accumulating, the neural mechanisms underlying auditory induction in A1 neurons are poorly understood. To elucidate this, we used both experimental and computational approaches. First, using an optical imaging method, we characterized population responses across auditory cortical fields to sound and identified five subfields in rats. Next, we examined neural population activity related to auditory induction with high temporal and spatial resolution in the rat auditory cortex (AC), including the A1 and several other AC subfields. Our imaging results showed that tone-burst stimuli interrupted by a silent gap elicited early phasic responses to the first tone and similar or smaller responses to the second tone following the gap. In contrast, tone stimuli interrupted by broadband noise (BN), considered to cause auditory induction, considerably suppressed or eliminated responses to the tone following the noise. Additionally, tone-burst stimuli that were interrupted by notched noise centered at the tone frequency, which is considered to decrease the strength of auditory induction, partially restored the second responses from the suppression caused by BN. To phenomenologically mimic the neural population activity in the A1 and thus investigate the mechanisms underlying auditory induction, we constructed a computational model from the periphery through the AC, including a nonlinear dynamical system. The computational model successively reproduced some of the above-mentioned experimental results. Therefore, our results suggest that a nonlinear, self

  11. Predictors of auditory performance in hearing-aid users: The role of cognitive function and auditory lifestyle (A)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vestergaard, Martin David

    2006-01-01

    no objective benefit can be measured. It has been suggested that lack of agreement between various hearing-aid outcome components can be explained by individual differences in cognitive function and auditory lifestyle. We measured speech identification, self-report outcome, spectral and temporal resolution...... of hearing, cognitive skills, and auditory lifestyle in 25 new hearing-aid users. The purpose was to assess the predictive power of the nonauditory measures while looking at the relationships between measures from various auditory-performance domains. The results showed that only moderate correlation exists...... between objective and subjective hearing-aid outcome. Different self-report outcome measures showed a different amount of correlation with objective auditory performance. Cognitive skills were found to play a role in explaining speech performance and spectral and temporal abilities, and auditory lifestyle...

  12. Central auditory processing outcome after stroke in children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karla M. I. Freiria Elias

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Objective To investigate central auditory processing in children with unilateral stroke and to verify whether the hemisphere affected by the lesion influenced auditory competence. Method 23 children (13 male between 7 and 16 years old were evaluated through speech-in-noise tests (auditory closure; dichotic digit test and staggered spondaic word test (selective attention; pitch pattern and duration pattern sequence tests (temporal processing and their results were compared with control children. Auditory competence was established according to the performance in auditory analysis ability. Results Was verified similar performance between groups in auditory closure ability and pronounced deficits in selective attention and temporal processing abilities. Most children with stroke showed an impaired auditory ability in a moderate degree. Conclusion Children with stroke showed deficits in auditory processing and the degree of impairment was not related to the hemisphere affected by the lesion.

  13. Experience and information loss in auditory and visual memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gloede, Michele E; Paulauskas, Emily E; Gregg, Melissa K

    2017-07-01

    Recent studies show that recognition memory for sounds is inferior to memory for pictures. Four experiments were conducted to examine the nature of auditory and visual memory. Experiments 1-3 were conducted to evaluate the role of experience in auditory and visual memory. Participants received a study phase with pictures/sounds, followed by a recognition memory test. Participants then completed auditory training with each of the sounds, followed by a second memory test. Despite auditory training in Experiments 1 and 2, visual memory was superior to auditory memory. In Experiment 3, we found that it is possible to improve auditory memory, but only after 3 days of specific auditory training and 3 days of visual memory decay. We examined the time course of information loss in auditory and visual memory in Experiment 4 and found a trade-off between visual and auditory recognition memory: Visual memory appears to have a larger capacity, while auditory memory is more enduring. Our results indicate that visual and auditory memory are inherently different memory systems and that differences in visual and auditory recognition memory performance may be due to the different amounts of experience with visual and auditory information, as well as structurally different neural circuitry specialized for information retention.

  14. Auditory and motor imagery modulate learning in music performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Rachel M; Palmer, Caroline

    2013-01-01

    Skilled performers such as athletes or musicians can improve their performance by imagining the actions or sensory outcomes associated with their skill. Performers vary widely in their auditory and motor imagery abilities, and these individual differences influence sensorimotor learning. It is unknown whether imagery abilities influence both memory encoding and retrieval. We examined how auditory and motor imagery abilities influence musicians' encoding (during Learning, as they practiced novel melodies), and retrieval (during Recall of those melodies). Pianists learned melodies by listening without performing (auditory learning) or performing without sound (motor learning); following Learning, pianists performed the melodies from memory with auditory feedback (Recall). During either Learning (Experiment 1) or Recall (Experiment 2), pianists experienced either auditory interference, motor interference, or no interference. Pitch accuracy (percentage of correct pitches produced) and temporal regularity (variability of quarter-note interonset intervals) were measured at Recall. Independent tests measured auditory and motor imagery skills. Pianists' pitch accuracy was higher following auditory learning than following motor learning and lower in motor interference conditions (Experiments 1 and 2). Both auditory and motor imagery skills improved pitch accuracy overall. Auditory imagery skills modulated pitch accuracy encoding (Experiment 1): Higher auditory imagery skill corresponded to higher pitch accuracy following auditory learning with auditory or motor interference, and following motor learning with motor or no interference. These findings suggest that auditory imagery abilities decrease vulnerability to interference and compensate for missing auditory feedback at encoding. Auditory imagery skills also influenced temporal regularity at retrieval (Experiment 2): Higher auditory imagery skill predicted greater temporal regularity during Recall in the presence of

  15. Auditory and motor imagery modulate learning in music performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Rachel M.; Palmer, Caroline

    2013-01-01

    Skilled performers such as athletes or musicians can improve their performance by imagining the actions or sensory outcomes associated with their skill. Performers vary widely in their auditory and motor imagery abilities, and these individual differences influence sensorimotor learning. It is unknown whether imagery abilities influence both memory encoding and retrieval. We examined how auditory and motor imagery abilities influence musicians' encoding (during Learning, as they practiced novel melodies), and retrieval (during Recall of those melodies). Pianists learned melodies by listening without performing (auditory learning) or performing without sound (motor learning); following Learning, pianists performed the melodies from memory with auditory feedback (Recall). During either Learning (Experiment 1) or Recall (Experiment 2), pianists experienced either auditory interference, motor interference, or no interference. Pitch accuracy (percentage of correct pitches produced) and temporal regularity (variability of quarter-note interonset intervals) were measured at Recall. Independent tests measured auditory and motor imagery skills. Pianists' pitch accuracy was higher following auditory learning than following motor learning and lower in motor interference conditions (Experiments 1 and 2). Both auditory and motor imagery skills improved pitch accuracy overall. Auditory imagery skills modulated pitch accuracy encoding (Experiment 1): Higher auditory imagery skill corresponded to higher pitch accuracy following auditory learning with auditory or motor interference, and following motor learning with motor or no interference. These findings suggest that auditory imagery abilities decrease vulnerability to interference and compensate for missing auditory feedback at encoding. Auditory imagery skills also influenced temporal regularity at retrieval (Experiment 2): Higher auditory imagery skill predicted greater temporal regularity during Recall in the presence of

  16. Auditory-vocal mirroring in songbirds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mooney, Richard

    2014-01-01

    Mirror neurons are theorized to serve as a neural substrate for spoken language in humans, but the existence and functions of auditory-vocal mirror neurons in the human brain remain largely matters of speculation. Songbirds resemble humans in their capacity for vocal learning and depend on their learned songs to facilitate courtship and individual recognition. Recent neurophysiological studies have detected putative auditory-vocal mirror neurons in a sensorimotor region of the songbird's brain that plays an important role in expressive and receptive aspects of vocal communication. This review discusses the auditory and motor-related properties of these cells, considers their potential role on song learning and communication in relation to classical studies of birdsong, and points to the circuit and developmental mechanisms that may give rise to auditory-vocal mirroring in the songbird's brain.

  17. Noise perception in the workplace and auditory and extra-auditory symptoms referred by university professors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Servilha, Emilse Aparecida Merlin; Delatti, Marina de Almeida

    2012-01-01

    To investigate the correlation between noise in the work environment and auditory and extra-auditory symptoms referred by university professors. Eighty five professors answered a questionnaire about identification, functional status, and health. The relationship between occupational noise and auditory and extra-auditory symptoms was investigated. Statistical analysis considered the significance level of 5%. None of the professors indicated absence of noise. Responses were grouped in Always (A) (n=21) and Not Always (NA) (n=63). Significant sources of noise were both the yard and another class, which were classified as high intensity; poor acoustic and echo. There was no association between referred noise and health complaints, such as digestive, hormonal, osteoarticular, dental, circulatory, respiratory and emotional complaints. There was also no association between referred noise and hearing complaints, and the group A showed higher occurrence of responses regarding noise nuisance, hearing difficulty and dizziness/vertigo, tinnitus, and earache. There was association between referred noise and voice alterations, and the group NA presented higher percentage of cases with voice alterations than the group A. The university environment was considered noisy; however, there was no association with auditory and extra-auditory symptoms. The hearing complaints were more evident among professors in the group A. Professors' health is a multi-dimensional product and, therefore, noise cannot be considered the only aggravation factor.

  18. Relation between Working Memory Capacity and Auditory Stream Segregation in Children with Auditory Processing Disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lotfi, Yones; Mehrkian, Saiedeh; Moossavi, Abdollah; Zadeh, Soghrat Faghih; Sadjedi, Hamed

    2016-03-01

    This study assessed the relationship between working memory capacity and auditory stream segregation by using the concurrent minimum audible angle in children with a diagnosed auditory processing disorder (APD). The participants in this cross-sectional, comparative study were 20 typically developing children and 15 children with a diagnosed APD (age, 9-11 years) according to the subtests of multiple-processing auditory assessment. Auditory stream segregation was investigated using the concurrent minimum audible angle. Working memory capacity was evaluated using the non-word repetition and forward and backward digit span tasks. Nonparametric statistics were utilized to compare the between-group differences. The Pearson correlation was employed to measure the degree of association between working memory capacity and the localization tests between the 2 groups. The group with APD had significantly lower scores than did the typically developing subjects in auditory stream segregation and working memory capacity. There were significant negative correlations between working memory capacity and the concurrent minimum audible angle in the most frontal reference location (0° azimuth) and lower negative correlations in the most lateral reference location (60° azimuth) in the children with APD. The study revealed a relationship between working memory capacity and auditory stream segregation in children with APD. The research suggests that lower working memory capacity in children with APD may be the possible cause of the inability to segregate and group incoming information.

  19. Auditory and motor imagery modulate learning in music performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rachel M. Brown

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Skilled performers such as athletes or musicians can improve their performance by imagining the actions or sensory outcomes associated with their skill. Performers vary widely in their auditory and motor imagery abilities, and these individual differences influence sensorimotor learning. It is unknown whether imagery abilities influence both memory encoding and retrieval. We examined how auditory and motor imagery abilities influence musicians’ encoding (during Learning, as they practiced novel melodies, and retrieval (during Recall of those melodies. Pianists learned melodies by listening without performing (auditory learning or performing without sound (motor learning; following Learning, pianists performed the melodies from memory with auditory feedback (Recall. During either Learning (Experiment 1 or Recall (Experiment 2, pianists experienced either auditory interference, motor interference, or no interference. Pitch accuracy (percentage of correct pitches produced and temporal regularity (variability of quarter-note interonset intervals were measured at Recall. Independent tests measured auditory and motor imagery skills. Pianists’ pitch accuracy was higher following auditory learning than following motor learning and lower in motor interference conditions (Experiments 1 and 2. Both auditory and motor imagery skills improved pitch accuracy overall. Auditory imagery skills modulated pitch accuracy encoding (Experiment 1: Higher auditory imagery skill corresponded to higher pitch accuracy following auditory learning with auditory or motor interference, and following motor learning with motor or no interference. These findings suggest that auditory imagery abilities decrease vulnerability to interference and compensate for missing auditory feedback at encoding. Auditory imagery skills also influenced temporal regularity at retrieval (Experiment 2: Higher auditory imagery skill predicted greater temporal regularity during Recall in the

  20. Development of a Reference System for the determination of the personal dose equivalent and the constancy of X- Ray beams

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vivolo, Vitor

    2006-01-01

    A reference system for the determination of the personal dose equivalent, Hp (10), and a quality control program of X-ray equipment used In radioprotection require the periodic verification of the X-ray beams constancy. In this work, two parallel-plate ionization chambers were developed with inner electrodes of different materials, and inserted into PMMA slab phantoms. One ionization chamber was developed with inner carbon electrodes and the other with inner aluminium electrodes. The two ionization chambers can be used as a Tandem system. The different energy response of the two ionization chambers allowed the development of the Tandem system that is very useful for the checking of the constancy of beam qualities. Standard intermediary energy X-ray beams (from 48 keV to 118 keV), radioprotection level, were established through the development of a dosimetric methodology and the analysis of their physical parameters. The ionization chambers were studied in relation to their operational characteristics, and they were calibrated in X-ray beams (radioprotection, diagnostic radiology, mammography and radiotherapy levels) in accordance to international recommendations. They presented good performance. The determination procedure of personal dose equivalent, Hp (10), was established. (author)

  1. The relation between working memory capacity and auditory lateralization in children with auditory processing disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moossavi, Abdollah; Mehrkian, Saiedeh; Lotfi, Yones; Faghihzadeh, Soghrat; sajedi, Hamed

    2014-11-01

    Auditory processing disorder (APD) describes a complex and heterogeneous disorder characterized by poor speech perception, especially in noisy environments. APD may be responsible for a range of sensory processing deficits associated with learning difficulties. There is no general consensus about the nature of APD and how the disorder should be assessed or managed. This study assessed the effect of cognition abilities (working memory capacity) on sound lateralization in children with auditory processing disorders, in order to determine how "auditory cognition" interacts with APD. The participants in this cross-sectional comparative study were 20 typically developing and 17 children with a diagnosed auditory processing disorder (9-11 years old). Sound lateralization abilities investigated using inter-aural time (ITD) differences and inter-aural intensity (IID) differences with two stimuli (high pass and low pass noise) in nine perceived positions. Working memory capacity was evaluated using the non-word repetition, and forward and backward digits span tasks. Linear regression was employed to measure the degree of association between working memory capacity and localization tests between the two groups. Children in the APD group had consistently lower scores than typically developing subjects in lateralization and working memory capacity measures. The results showed working memory capacity had significantly negative correlation with ITD errors especially with high pass noise stimulus but not with IID errors in APD children. The study highlights the impact of working memory capacity on auditory lateralization. The finding of this research indicates that the extent to which working memory influences auditory processing depend on the type of auditory processing and the nature of stimulus/listening situation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Auditory Training Effects on the Listening Skills of Children With Auditory Processing Disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loo, Jenny Hooi Yin; Rosen, Stuart; Bamiou, Doris-Eva

    2016-01-01

    Children with auditory processing disorder (APD) typically present with "listening difficulties,"' including problems understanding speech in noisy environments. The authors examined, in a group of such children, whether a 12-week computer-based auditory training program with speech material improved the perception of speech-in-noise test performance, and functional listening skills as assessed by parental and teacher listening and communication questionnaires. The authors hypothesized that after the intervention, (1) trained children would show greater improvements in speech-in-noise perception than untrained controls; (2) this improvement would correlate with improvements in observer-rated behaviors; and (3) the improvement would be maintained for at least 3 months after the end of training. This was a prospective randomized controlled trial of 39 children with normal nonverbal intelligence, ages 7 to 11 years, all diagnosed with APD. This diagnosis required a normal pure-tone audiogram and deficits in at least two clinical auditory processing tests. The APD children were randomly assigned to (1) a control group that received only the current standard treatment for children diagnosed with APD, employing various listening/educational strategies at school (N = 19); or (2) an intervention group that undertook a 3-month 5-day/week computer-based auditory training program at home, consisting of a wide variety of speech-based listening tasks with competing sounds, in addition to the current standard treatment. All 39 children were assessed for language and cognitive skills at baseline and on three outcome measures at baseline and immediate postintervention. Outcome measures were repeated 3 months postintervention in the intervention group only, to assess the sustainability of treatment effects. The outcome measures were (1) the mean speech reception threshold obtained from the four subtests of the listening in specialized noise test that assesses sentence perception in

  3. Functional Mapping of the Human Auditory Cortex: fMRI Investigation of a Patient with Auditory Agnosia from Trauma to the Inferior Colliculus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poliva, Oren; Bestelmeyer, Patricia E G; Hall, Michelle; Bultitude, Janet H; Koller, Kristin; Rafal, Robert D

    2015-09-01

    To use functional magnetic resonance imaging to map the auditory cortical fields that are activated, or nonreactive, to sounds in patient M.L., who has auditory agnosia caused by trauma to the inferior colliculi. The patient cannot recognize speech or environmental sounds. Her discrimination is greatly facilitated by context and visibility of the speaker's facial movements, and under forced-choice testing. Her auditory temporal resolution is severely compromised. Her discrimination is more impaired for words differing in voice onset time than place of articulation. Words presented to her right ear are extinguished with dichotic presentation; auditory stimuli in the right hemifield are mislocalized to the left. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine cortical activations to different categories of meaningful sounds embedded in a block design. Sounds activated the caudal sub-area of M.L.'s primary auditory cortex (hA1) bilaterally and her right posterior superior temporal gyrus (auditory dorsal stream), but not the rostral sub-area (hR) of her primary auditory cortex or the anterior superior temporal gyrus in either hemisphere (auditory ventral stream). Auditory agnosia reflects dysfunction of the auditory ventral stream. The ventral and dorsal auditory streams are already segregated as early as the primary auditory cortex, with the ventral stream projecting from hR and the dorsal stream from hA1. M.L.'s leftward localization bias, preserved audiovisual integration, and phoneme perception are explained by preserved processing in her right auditory dorsal stream.

  4. Neural circuits in auditory and audiovisual memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plakke, B; Romanski, L M

    2016-06-01

    Working memory is the ability to employ recently seen or heard stimuli and apply them to changing cognitive context. Although much is known about language processing and visual working memory, the neurobiological basis of auditory working memory is less clear. Historically, part of the problem has been the difficulty in obtaining a robust animal model to study auditory short-term memory. In recent years there has been neurophysiological and lesion studies indicating a cortical network involving both temporal and frontal cortices. Studies specifically targeting the role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in auditory working memory have suggested that dorsal and ventral prefrontal regions perform different roles during the processing of auditory mnemonic information, with the dorsolateral PFC performing similar functions for both auditory and visual working memory. In contrast, the ventrolateral PFC (VLPFC), which contains cells that respond robustly to auditory stimuli and that process both face and vocal stimuli may be an essential locus for both auditory and audiovisual working memory. These findings suggest a critical role for the VLPFC in the processing, integrating, and retaining of communication information. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Auditory working memory. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Auditory motion-specific mechanisms in the primate brain.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Colline Poirier

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available This work examined the mechanisms underlying auditory motion processing in the auditory cortex of awake monkeys using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI. We tested to what extent auditory motion analysis can be explained by the linear combination of static spatial mechanisms, spectrotemporal processes, and their interaction. We found that the posterior auditory cortex, including A1 and the surrounding caudal belt and parabelt, is involved in auditory motion analysis. Static spatial and spectrotemporal processes were able to fully explain motion-induced activation in most parts of the auditory cortex, including A1, but not in circumscribed regions of the posterior belt and parabelt cortex. We show that in these regions motion-specific processes contribute to the activation, providing the first demonstration that auditory motion is not simply deduced from changes in static spatial location. These results demonstrate that parallel mechanisms for motion and static spatial analysis coexist within the auditory dorsal stream.

  6. Selective memory retrieval of auditory what and auditory where involves the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kostopoulos, Penelope; Petrides, Michael

    2016-02-16

    There is evidence from the visual, verbal, and tactile memory domains that the midventrolateral prefrontal cortex plays a critical role in the top-down modulation of activity within posterior cortical areas for the selective retrieval of specific aspects of a memorized experience, a functional process often referred to as active controlled retrieval. In the present functional neuroimaging study, we explore the neural bases of active retrieval for auditory nonverbal information, about which almost nothing is known. Human participants were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a task in which they were presented with short melodies from different locations in a simulated virtual acoustic environment within the scanner and were then instructed to retrieve selectively either the particular melody presented or its location. There were significant activity increases specifically within the midventrolateral prefrontal region during the selective retrieval of nonverbal auditory information. During the selective retrieval of information from auditory memory, the right midventrolateral prefrontal region increased its interaction with the auditory temporal region and the inferior parietal lobule in the right hemisphere. These findings provide evidence that the midventrolateral prefrontal cortical region interacts with specific posterior cortical areas in the human cerebral cortex for the selective retrieval of object and location features of an auditory memory experience.

  7. Fundamental deficits of auditory perception in Wernicke's aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robson, Holly; Grube, Manon; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A; Griffiths, Timothy D; Sage, Karen

    2013-01-01

    This work investigates the nature of the comprehension impairment in Wernicke's aphasia (WA), by examining the relationship between deficits in auditory processing of fundamental, non-verbal acoustic stimuli and auditory comprehension. WA, a condition resulting in severely disrupted auditory comprehension, primarily occurs following a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) to the left temporo-parietal cortex. Whilst damage to posterior superior temporal areas is associated with auditory linguistic comprehension impairments, functional-imaging indicates that these areas may not be specific to speech processing but part of a network for generic auditory analysis. We examined analysis of basic acoustic stimuli in WA participants (n = 10) using auditory stimuli reflective of theories of cortical auditory processing and of speech cues. Auditory spectral, temporal and spectro-temporal analysis was assessed using pure-tone frequency discrimination, frequency modulation (FM) detection and the detection of dynamic modulation (DM) in "moving ripple" stimuli. All tasks used criterion-free, adaptive measures of threshold to ensure reliable results at the individual level. Participants with WA showed normal frequency discrimination but significant impairments in FM and DM detection, relative to age- and hearing-matched controls at the group level (n = 10). At the individual level, there was considerable variation in performance, and thresholds for both FM and DM detection correlated significantly with auditory comprehension abilities in the WA participants. These results demonstrate the co-occurrence of a deficit in fundamental auditory processing of temporal and spectro-temporal non-verbal stimuli in WA, which may have a causal contribution to the auditory language comprehension impairment. Results are discussed in the context of traditional neuropsychology and current models of cortical auditory processing. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Visual cortex and auditory cortex activation in early binocularly blind macaques: A BOLD-fMRI study using auditory stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Rong; Wu, Lingjie; Tang, Zuohua; Sun, Xinghuai; Feng, Xiaoyuan; Tang, Weijun; Qian, Wen; Wang, Jie; Jin, Lixin; Zhong, Yufeng; Xiao, Zebin

    2017-04-15

    Cross-modal plasticity within the visual and auditory cortices of early binocularly blind macaques is not well studied. In this study, four healthy neonatal macaques were assigned to group A (control group) or group B (binocularly blind group). Sixteen months later, blood oxygenation level-dependent functional imaging (BOLD-fMRI) was conducted to examine the activation in the visual and auditory cortices of each macaque while being tested using pure tones as auditory stimuli. The changes in the BOLD response in the visual and auditory cortices of all macaques were compared with immunofluorescence staining findings. Compared with group A, greater BOLD activity was observed in the bilateral visual cortices of group B, and this effect was particularly obvious in the right visual cortex. In addition, more activated volumes were found in the bilateral auditory cortices of group B than of group A, especially in the right auditory cortex. These findings were consistent with the fact that there were more c-Fos-positive cells in the bilateral visual and auditory cortices of group B compared with group A (p visual cortices of binocularly blind macaques can be reorganized to process auditory stimuli after visual deprivation, and this effect is more obvious in the right than the left visual cortex. These results indicate the establishment of cross-modal plasticity within the visual and auditory cortices. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Left auditory cortex gamma synchronization and auditory hallucination symptoms in schizophrenia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shenton Martha E

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Oscillatory electroencephalogram (EEG abnormalities may reflect neural circuit dysfunction in neuropsychiatric disorders. Previously we have found positive correlations between the phase synchronization of beta and gamma oscillations and hallucination symptoms in schizophrenia patients. These findings suggest that the propensity for hallucinations is associated with an increased tendency for neural circuits in sensory cortex to enter states of oscillatory synchrony. Here we tested this hypothesis by examining whether the 40 Hz auditory steady-state response (ASSR generated in the left primary auditory cortex is positively correlated with auditory hallucination symptoms in schizophrenia. We also examined whether the 40 Hz ASSR deficit in schizophrenia was associated with cross-frequency interactions. Sixteen healthy control subjects (HC and 18 chronic schizophrenia patients (SZ listened to 40 Hz binaural click trains. The EEG was recorded from 60 electrodes and average-referenced offline. A 5-dipole model was fit from the HC grand average ASSR, with 2 pairs of superior temporal dipoles and a deep midline dipole. Time-frequency decomposition was performed on the scalp EEG and source data. Results Phase locking factor (PLF and evoked power were reduced in SZ at fronto-central electrodes, replicating prior findings. PLF was reduced in SZ for non-homologous right and left hemisphere sources. Left hemisphere source PLF in SZ was positively correlated with auditory hallucination symptoms, and was modulated by delta phase. Furthermore, the correlations between source evoked power and PLF found in HC was reduced in SZ for the LH sources. Conclusion These findings suggest that differential neural circuit abnormalities may be present in the left and right auditory cortices in schizophrenia. In addition, they provide further support for the hypothesis that hallucinations are related to cortical hyperexcitability, which is manifested by

  10. Cognitive factors shape brain networks for auditory skills: spotlight on auditory working memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kraus, Nina; Strait, Dana; Parbery-Clark, Alexandra

    2012-01-01

    Musicians benefit from real-life advantages such as a greater ability to hear speech in noise and to remember sounds, although the biological mechanisms driving such advantages remain undetermined. Furthermore, the extent to which these advantages are a consequence of musical training or innate characteristics that predispose a given individual to pursue music training is often debated. Here, we examine biological underpinnings of musicians’ auditory advantages and the mediating role of auditory working memory. Results from our laboratory are presented within a framework that emphasizes auditory working memory as a major factor in the neural processing of sound. Within this framework, we provide evidence for music training as a contributing source of these abilities. PMID:22524346

  11. Auditory Motion Elicits a Visual Motion Aftereffect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berger, Christopher C; Ehrsson, H Henrik

    2016-01-01

    The visual motion aftereffect is a visual illusion in which exposure to continuous motion in one direction leads to a subsequent illusion of visual motion in the opposite direction. Previous findings have been mixed with regard to whether this visual illusion can be induced cross-modally by auditory stimuli. Based on research on multisensory perception demonstrating the profound influence auditory perception can have on the interpretation and perceived motion of visual stimuli, we hypothesized that exposure to auditory stimuli with strong directional motion cues should induce a visual motion aftereffect. Here, we demonstrate that horizontally moving auditory stimuli induced a significant visual motion aftereffect-an effect that was driven primarily by a change in visual motion perception following exposure to leftward moving auditory stimuli. This finding is consistent with the notion that visual and auditory motion perception rely on at least partially overlapping neural substrates.

  12. Auditory Motion Elicits a Visual Motion Aftereffect

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christopher C. Berger

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The visual motion aftereffect is a visual illusion in which exposure to continuous motion in one direction leads to a subsequent illusion of visual motion in the opposite direction. Previous findings have been mixed with regard to whether this visual illusion can be induced cross-modally by auditory stimuli. Based on research on multisensory perception demonstrating the profound influence auditory perception can have on the interpretation and perceived motion of visual stimuli, we hypothesized that exposure to auditory stimuli with strong directional motion cues should induce a visual motion aftereffect. Here, we demonstrate that horizontally moving auditory stimuli induced a significant visual motion aftereffect—an effect that was driven primarily by a change in visual motion perception following exposure to leftward moving auditory stimuli. This finding is consistent with the notion that visual and auditory motion perception rely on at least partially overlapping neural substrates.

  13. Relation between Working Memory Capacity and Auditory Stream Segregation in Children with Auditory Processing Disorder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yones Lotfi

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Background: This study assessed the relationship between working memory capacity and auditory stream segregation by using the concurrent minimum audible angle in children with a diagnosed auditory processing disorder (APD. Methods: The participants in this cross-sectional, comparative study were 20 typically developing children and 15 children with a diagnosed APD (age, 9–11 years according to the subtests of multiple-processing auditory assessment. Auditory stream segregation was investigated using the concurrent minimum audible angle. Working memory capacity was evaluated using the non-word repetition and forward and backward digit span tasks. Nonparametric statistics were utilized to compare the between-group differences. The Pearson correlation was employed to measure the degree of association between working memory capacity and the localization tests between the 2 groups. Results: The group with APD had significantly lower scores than did the typically developing subjects in auditory stream segregation and working memory capacity. There were significant negative correlations between working memory capacity and the concurrent minimum audible angle in the most frontal reference location (0° azimuth and lower negative correlations in the most lateral reference location (60° azimuth in the children with APD. Conclusion: The study revealed a relationship between working memory capacity and auditory stream segregation in children with APD. The research suggests that lower working memory capacity in children with APD may be the possible cause of the inability to segregate and group incoming information.

  14. The impact of the thermal conductivities of the color conversion elements of phosphor converted LEDs under different current driving schemes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fulmek, Paul; Nicolics, Johann [Institute of Sensor & Actuator Systems, Vienna University of Technology, Gusshausstraße 27-29, A-1040 Vienna (Austria); Nemitz, Wolfgang; Schweitzer, Susanne; Sommer, Christian; Hartmann, Paul [Institute of Surface Technologies and Photonics, Joanneum Research Forschungsges mbH, Franz-Pichler Straße 30, A-8160 Weiz (Austria); Schrank, Franz [Tridonic Jennersdorf GmbH, Technologiepark 10, A-8380 Jennersdorf (Austria); Wenzl, Franz P., E-mail: Franz-Peter.Wenzl@joanneum.at [Institute of Sensor & Actuator Systems, Vienna University of Technology, Gusshausstraße 27-29, A-1040 Vienna (Austria)

    2016-01-15

    For a systematic approach to improve the reliability and the white light quality of phosphor converted light-emitting diodes (LEDs) it is imperative to gain a better understanding of the individual parameters that affect color temperature constancy and maintenance. By means of a combined optical and thermal simulation procedure, in this contribution we give a comprehensive discussion on the impact of different thermal conductivities of the color conversion elements (CCE) of phosphor converted LEDs on their respective thermal load for different current driving schemes. In particular we show that, while for the thermal load of CCEs with low thermal conductivities also effects due to the non-linearity between the blue radiant flux and the current have to be considered, these effects are largely diminished in case of CCEs with higher thermal conductivities. - Highlights: • We discuss the thermal load of phosphor based LEDs for different current driving. • We report on the time scales for the thermal load of phosphor based LEDs. • We report on the impact of the non-linearity of the radiant flux on the thermal load. • We discuss the impact of the thermal conductivity on the thermal load.

  15. Colorimetric Characterization of Mobile Devices for Vision Applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Fez, Dolores; Luque, Maria José; García-Domene, Maria Carmen; Camps, Vicente; Piñero, David

    2016-01-01

    Available applications for vision testing in mobile devices usually do not include detailed setup instructions, sacrificing rigor to obtain portability and ease of use. In particular, colorimetric characterization processes are generally obviated. We show that different mobile devices differ also in colorimetric profile and that those differences limit the range of applications for which they are most adequate. The color reproduction characteristics of four mobile devices, two smartphones (Samsung Galaxy S4, iPhone 4s) and two tablets (Samsung Galaxy Tab 3, iPad 4), have been evaluated using two procedures: 3D LUT (Look Up Table) and a linear model assuming primary constancy and independence of the channels. The color reproduction errors have been computed with the CIEDE2000 color difference formula. There is good constancy of primaries but large deviations of additivity. The 3D LUT characterization yields smaller reproduction errors and dispersions for the Tab 3 and iPhone 4 devices, but for the iPad 4 and S4, both models are equally good. The smallest reproduction errors occur with both Apple devices, although the iPad 4 has the highest number of outliers of all devices with both colorimetric characterizations. Even though there is good constancy of primaries, the large deviations of additivity exhibited by the devices and the larger reproduction errors make any characterization based on channel independence not recommendable. The smartphone screens show, in average, the best color reproduction performance, particularly the iPhone 4, and therefore, they are more adequate for applications requiring precise color reproduction.

  16. Auditory conflict and congruence in frontotemporal dementia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Camilla N; Nicholas, Jennifer M; Agustus, Jennifer L; Hardy, Christopher J D; Russell, Lucy L; Brotherhood, Emilie V; Dick, Katrina M; Marshall, Charles R; Mummery, Catherine J; Rohrer, Jonathan D; Warren, Jason D

    2017-09-01

    Impaired analysis of signal conflict and congruence may contribute to diverse socio-emotional symptoms in frontotemporal dementias, however the underlying mechanisms have not been defined. Here we addressed this issue in patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD; n = 19) and semantic dementia (SD; n = 10) relative to healthy older individuals (n = 20). We created auditory scenes in which semantic and emotional congruity of constituent sounds were independently probed; associated tasks controlled for auditory perceptual similarity, scene parsing and semantic competence. Neuroanatomical correlates of auditory congruity processing were assessed using voxel-based morphometry. Relative to healthy controls, both the bvFTD and SD groups had impaired semantic and emotional congruity processing (after taking auditory control task performance into account) and reduced affective integration of sounds into scenes. Grey matter correlates of auditory semantic congruity processing were identified in distributed regions encompassing prefrontal, parieto-temporal and insular areas and correlates of auditory emotional congruity in partly overlapping temporal, insular and striatal regions. Our findings suggest that decoding of auditory signal relatedness may probe a generic cognitive mechanism and neural architecture underpinning frontotemporal dementia syndromes. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  17. Image processing analysis of traditional Gestalt vision experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCann, John J.

    2002-06-01

    In the late 19th century, the Gestalt Psychology rebelled against the popular new science of Psychophysics. The Gestalt revolution used many fascinating visual examples to illustrate that the whole is greater than the sum of all the parts. Color constancy was an important example. The physical interpretation of sensations and their quantification by JNDs and Weber fractions were met with innumerable examples in which two 'identical' physical stimuli did not look the same. The fact that large changes in the color of the illumination failed to change color appearance in real scenes demanded something more than quantifying the psychophysical response of a single pixel. The debates continues today with proponents of both physical, pixel-based colorimetry and perceptual, image- based cognitive interpretations. Modern instrumentation has made colorimetric pixel measurement universal. As well, new examples of unconscious inference continue to be reported in the literature. Image processing provides a new way of analyzing familiar Gestalt displays. Since the pioneering experiments by Fergus Campbell and Land, we know that human vision has independent spatial channels and independent color channels. Color matching data from color constancy experiments agrees with spatial comparison analysis. In this analysis, simple spatial processes can explain the different appearances of 'identical' stimuli by analyzing the multiresolution spatial properties of their surrounds. Benary's Cross, White's Effect, the Checkerboard Illusion and the Dungeon Illusion can all be understood by the analysis of their low-spatial-frequency components. Just as with color constancy, these Gestalt images are most simply described by the analysis of spatial components. Simple spatial mechanisms account for the appearance of 'identical' stimuli in complex scenes. It does not require complex, cognitive processes to calculate appearances in familiar Gestalt experiments.

  18. Effect of age at cochlear implantation on auditory and speech development of children with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yuying; Dong, Ruijuan; Li, Yuling; Xu, Tianqiu; Li, Yongxin; Chen, Xueqing; Gong, Shusheng

    2014-12-01

    To evaluate the auditory and speech abilities in children with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) after cochlear implantation (CI) and determine the role of age at implantation. Ten children participated in this retrospective case series study. All children had evidence of ANSD. All subjects had no cochlear nerve deficiency on magnetic resonance imaging and had used the cochlear implants for a period of 12-84 months. We divided our children into two groups: children who underwent implantation before 24 months of age and children who underwent implantation after 24 months of age. Their auditory and speech abilities were evaluated using the following: behavioral audiometry, the Categories of Auditory Performance (CAP), the Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (MAIS), the Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (IT-MAIS), the Standard-Chinese version of the Monosyllabic Lexical Neighborhood Test (LNT), the Multisyllabic Lexical Neighborhood Test (MLNT), the Speech Intelligibility Rating (SIR) and the Meaningful Use of Speech Scale (MUSS). All children showed progress in their auditory and language abilities. The 4-frequency average hearing level (HL) (500Hz, 1000Hz, 2000Hz and 4000Hz) of aided hearing thresholds ranged from 17.5 to 57.5dB HL. All children developed time-related auditory perception and speech skills. Scores of children with ANSD who received cochlear implants before 24 months tended to be better than those of children who received cochlear implants after 24 months. Seven children completed the Mandarin Lexical Neighborhood Test. Approximately half of the children showed improved open-set speech recognition. Cochlear implantation is helpful for children with ANSD and may be a good optional treatment for many ANSD children. In addition, children with ANSD fitted with cochlear implants before 24 months tended to acquire auditory and speech skills better than children fitted with cochlear implants after 24 months. Copyright © 2014

  19. Effects of Auditory Stimuli on Visual Velocity Perception

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michiaki Shibata

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available We investigated the effects of auditory stimuli on the perceived velocity of a moving visual stimulus. Previous studies have reported that the duration of visual events is perceived as being longer for events filled with auditory stimuli than for events not filled with auditory stimuli, ie, the so-called “filled-duration illusion.” In this study, we have shown that auditory stimuli also affect the perceived velocity of a moving visual stimulus. In Experiment 1, a moving comparison stimulus (4.2∼5.8 deg/s was presented together with filled (or unfilled white-noise bursts or with no sound. The standard stimulus was a moving visual stimulus (5 deg/s presented before or after the comparison stimulus. The participants had to judge which stimulus was moving faster. The results showed that the perceived velocity in the auditory-filled condition was lower than that in the auditory-unfilled and no-sound conditions. In Experiment 2, we investigated the effects of auditory stimuli on velocity adaptation. The results showed that the effects of velocity adaptation in the auditory-filled condition were weaker than those in the no-sound condition. These results indicate that auditory stimuli tend to decrease the perceived velocity of a moving visual stimulus.

  20. The attenuation of auditory neglect by implicit cues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coleman, A Rand; Williams, J Michael

    2006-09-01

    This study examined implicit semantic and rhyming cues on perception of auditory stimuli among nonaphasic participants who suffered a lesion of the right cerebral hemisphere and auditory neglect of sound perceived by the left ear. Because language represents an elaborate processing of auditory stimuli and the language centers were intact among these patients, it was hypothesized that interactive verbal stimuli presented in a dichotic manner would attenuate neglect. The selected participants were administered an experimental dichotic listening test composed of six types of word pairs: unrelated words, synonyms, antonyms, categorically related words, compound words, and rhyming words. Presentation of word pairs that were semantically related resulted in a dramatic reduction of auditory neglect. Dichotic presentations of rhyming words exacerbated auditory neglect. These findings suggest that the perception of auditory information is strongly affected by the specific content conveyed by the auditory system. Language centers will process a degraded stimulus that contains salient language content. A degraded auditory stimulus is neglected if it is devoid of content that activates the language centers or other cognitive systems. In general, these findings suggest that auditory neglect involves a complex interaction of intact and impaired cerebral processing centers with content that is selectively processed by these centers.

  1. The role of temporal coherence in auditory stream segregation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christiansen, Simon Krogholt

    The ability to perceptually segregate concurrent sound sources and focus one’s attention on a single source at a time is essential for the ability to use acoustic information. While perceptual experiments have determined a range of acoustic cues that help facilitate auditory stream segregation......, it is not clear how the auditory system realizes the task. This thesis presents a study of the mechanisms involved in auditory stream segregation. Through a combination of psychoacoustic experiments, designed to characterize the influence of acoustic cues on auditory stream formation, and computational models...... of auditory processing, the role of auditory preprocessing and temporal coherence in auditory stream formation was evaluated. The computational model presented in this study assumes that auditory stream segregation occurs when sounds stimulate non-overlapping neural populations in a temporally incoherent...

  2. Rapid measurement of auditory filter shape in mice using the auditory brainstem response and notched noise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lina, Ioan A; Lauer, Amanda M

    2013-04-01

    The notched noise method is an effective procedure for measuring frequency resolution and auditory filter shapes in both human and animal models of hearing. Briefly, auditory filter shape and bandwidth estimates are derived from masked thresholds for tones presented in noise containing widening spectral notches. As the spectral notch widens, increasingly less of the noise falls within the auditory filter and the tone becomes more detectible until the notch width exceeds the filter bandwidth. Behavioral procedures have been used for the derivation of notched noise auditory filter shapes in mice; however, the time and effort needed to train and test animals on these tasks renders a constraint on the widespread application of this testing method. As an alternative procedure, we combined relatively non-invasive auditory brainstem response (ABR) measurements and the notched noise method to estimate auditory filters in normal-hearing mice at center frequencies of 8, 11.2, and 16 kHz. A complete set of simultaneous masked thresholds for a particular tone frequency were obtained in about an hour. ABR-derived filter bandwidths broadened with increasing frequency, consistent with previous studies. The ABR notched noise procedure provides a fast alternative to estimating frequency selectivity in mice that is well-suited to high through-put or time-sensitive screening. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Modeling human color categorization: Color discrimination and color memory

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Heskes, T.; van den Broek, Egon; Lucas, P.; Hendriks, Maria A.; Vuurpijl, L.G.; Puts, M.J.H.; Wiegerinck, W.

    2003-01-01

    Color matching in Content-Based Image Retrieval is done using a color space and measuring distances between colors. Such an approach yields non-intuitive results for the user. We introduce color categories (or focal colors), determine that they are valid, and use them in two experiments. The

  4. Feature Assignment in Perception of Auditory Figure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gregg, Melissa K.; Samuel, Arthur G.

    2012-01-01

    Because the environment often includes multiple sounds that overlap in time, listeners must segregate a sound of interest (the auditory figure) from other co-occurring sounds (the unattended auditory ground). We conducted a series of experiments to clarify the principles governing the extraction of auditory figures. We distinguish between auditory…

  5. Auditory and Visual Sensations

    CERN Document Server

    Ando, Yoichi

    2010-01-01

    Professor Yoichi Ando, acoustic architectural designer of the Kirishima International Concert Hall in Japan, presents a comprehensive rational-scientific approach to designing performance spaces. His theory is based on systematic psychoacoustical observations of spatial hearing and listener preferences, whose neuronal correlates are observed in the neurophysiology of the human brain. A correlation-based model of neuronal signal processing in the central auditory system is proposed in which temporal sensations (pitch, timbre, loudness, duration) are represented by an internal autocorrelation representation, and spatial sensations (sound location, size, diffuseness related to envelopment) are represented by an internal interaural crosscorrelation function. Together these two internal central auditory representations account for the basic auditory qualities that are relevant for listening to music and speech in indoor performance spaces. Observed psychological and neurophysiological commonalities between auditor...

  6. Word Recognition in Auditory Cortex

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeWitt, Iain D. J.

    2013-01-01

    Although spoken word recognition is more fundamental to human communication than text recognition, knowledge of word-processing in auditory cortex is comparatively impoverished. This dissertation synthesizes current models of auditory cortex, models of cortical pattern recognition, models of single-word reading, results in phonetics and results in…

  7. Partial Epilepsy with Auditory Features

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J Gordon Millichap

    2004-07-01

    Full Text Available The clinical characteristics of 53 sporadic (S cases of idiopathic partial epilepsy with auditory features (IPEAF were analyzed and compared to previously reported familial (F cases of autosomal dominant partial epilepsy with auditory features (ADPEAF in a study at the University of Bologna, Italy.

  8. Image color reduction method for color-defective observers using a color palette composed of 20 particular colors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sakamoto, Takashi

    2015-01-01

    This study describes a color enhancement method that uses a color palette especially designed for protan and deutan defects, commonly known as red-green color blindness. The proposed color reduction method is based on a simple color mapping. Complicated computation and image processing are not required by using the proposed method, and the method can replace protan and deutan confusion (p/d-confusion) colors with protan and deutan safe (p/d-safe) colors. Color palettes for protan and deutan defects proposed by previous studies are composed of few p/d-safe colors. Thus, the colors contained in these palettes are insufficient for replacing colors in photographs. Recently, Ito et al. proposed a p/dsafe color palette composed of 20 particular colors. The author demonstrated that their p/d-safe color palette could be applied to image color reduction in photographs as a means to replace p/d-confusion colors. This study describes the results of the proposed color reduction in photographs that include typical p/d-confusion colors, which can be replaced. After the reduction process is completed, color-defective observers can distinguish these confusion colors.

  9. Maps of the Auditory Cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brewer, Alyssa A; Barton, Brian

    2016-07-08

    One of the fundamental properties of the mammalian brain is that sensory regions of cortex are formed of multiple, functionally specialized cortical field maps (CFMs). Each CFM comprises two orthogonal topographical representations, reflecting two essential aspects of sensory space. In auditory cortex, auditory field maps (AFMs) are defined by the combination of tonotopic gradients, representing the spectral aspects of sound (i.e., tones), with orthogonal periodotopic gradients, representing the temporal aspects of sound (i.e., period or temporal envelope). Converging evidence from cytoarchitectural and neuroimaging measurements underlies the definition of 11 AFMs across core and belt regions of human auditory cortex, with likely homology to those of macaque. On a macrostructural level, AFMs are grouped into cloverleaf clusters, an organizational structure also seen in visual cortex. Future research can now use these AFMs to investigate specific stages of auditory processing, key for understanding behaviors such as speech perception and multimodal sensory integration.

  10. Rapid Auditory System Adaptation Using a Virtual Auditory Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gaëtan Parseihian

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Various studies have highlighted plasticity of the auditory system from visual stimuli, limiting the trained field of perception. The aim of the present study is to investigate auditory system adaptation using an audio-kinesthetic platform. Participants were placed in a Virtual Auditory Environment allowing the association of the physical position of a virtual sound source with an alternate set of acoustic spectral cues or Head-Related Transfer Function (HRTF through the use of a tracked ball manipulated by the subject. This set-up has the advantage to be not being limited to the visual field while also offering a natural perception-action coupling through the constant awareness of one's hand position. Adaptation process to non-individualized HRTF was realized through a spatial search game application. A total of 25 subjects participated, consisting of subjects presented with modified cues using non-individualized HRTF and a control group using individual measured HRTFs to account for any learning effect due to the game itself. The training game lasted 12 minutes and was repeated over 3 consecutive days. Adaptation effects were measured with repeated localization tests. Results showed a significant performance improvement for vertical localization and a significant reduction in the front/back confusion rate after 3 sessions.

  11. Visually Evoked Visual-Auditory Changes Associated with Auditory Performance in Children with Cochlear Implants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maojin Liang

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Activation of the auditory cortex by visual stimuli has been reported in deaf children. In cochlear implant (CI patients, a residual, more intense cortical activation in the frontotemporal areas in response to photo stimuli was found to be positively associated with poor auditory performance. Our study aimed to investigate the mechanism by which visual processing in CI users activates the auditory-associated cortex during the period after cochlear implantation as well as its relation to CI outcomes. Twenty prelingually deaf children with CI were recruited. Ten children were good CI performers (GCP and ten were poor (PCP. Ten age- and sex- matched normal-hearing children were recruited as controls, and visual evoked potentials (VEPs were recorded. The characteristics of the right frontotemporal N1 component were analyzed. In the prelingually deaf children, higher N1 amplitude was observed compared to normal controls. While the GCP group showed significant decreases in N1 amplitude, and source analysis showed the most significant decrease in brain activity was observed in the primary visual cortex (PVC, with a downward trend in the primary auditory cortex (PAC activity, but these did not occur in the PCP group. Meanwhile, higher PVC activation (comparing to controls before CI use (0M and a significant decrease in source energy after CI use were found to be related to good CI outcomes. In the GCP group, source energy decreased in the visual-auditory cortex with CI use. However, no significant cerebral hemispheric dominance was found. We supposed that intra- or cross-modal reorganization and higher PVC activation in prelingually deaf children may reflect a stronger potential ability of cortical plasticity. Brain activity evolution appears to be related to CI auditory outcomes.

  12. Visually Evoked Visual-Auditory Changes Associated with Auditory Performance in Children with Cochlear Implants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, Maojin; Zhang, Junpeng; Liu, Jiahao; Chen, Yuebo; Cai, Yuexin; Wang, Xianjun; Wang, Junbo; Zhang, Xueyuan; Chen, Suijun; Li, Xianghui; Chen, Ling; Zheng, Yiqing

    2017-01-01

    Activation of the auditory cortex by visual stimuli has been reported in deaf children. In cochlear implant (CI) patients, a residual, more intense cortical activation in the frontotemporal areas in response to photo stimuli was found to be positively associated with poor auditory performance. Our study aimed to investigate the mechanism by which visual processing in CI users activates the auditory-associated cortex during the period after cochlear implantation as well as its relation to CI outcomes. Twenty prelingually deaf children with CI were recruited. Ten children were good CI performers (GCP) and ten were poor (PCP). Ten age- and sex- matched normal-hearing children were recruited as controls, and visual evoked potentials (VEPs) were recorded. The characteristics of the right frontotemporal N1 component were analyzed. In the prelingually deaf children, higher N1 amplitude was observed compared to normal controls. While the GCP group showed significant decreases in N1 amplitude, and source analysis showed the most significant decrease in brain activity was observed in the primary visual cortex (PVC), with a downward trend in the primary auditory cortex (PAC) activity, but these did not occur in the PCP group. Meanwhile, higher PVC activation (comparing to controls) before CI use (0M) and a significant decrease in source energy after CI use were found to be related to good CI outcomes. In the GCP group, source energy decreased in the visual-auditory cortex with CI use. However, no significant cerebral hemispheric dominance was found. We supposed that intra- or cross-modal reorganization and higher PVC activation in prelingually deaf children may reflect a stronger potential ability of cortical plasticity. Brain activity evolution appears to be related to CI auditory outcomes.

  13. Assessing the aging effect on auditory-verbal memory by Persian version of dichotic auditory verbal memory test

    OpenAIRE

    Zahra Shahidipour; Ahmad Geshani; Zahra Jafari; Shohreh Jalaie; Elham Khosravifard

    2014-01-01

    Background and Aim: Memory is one of the aspects of cognitive function which is widely affected among aged people. Since aging has different effects on different memorial systems and little studies have investigated auditory-verbal memory function in older adults using dichotic listening techniques, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the auditory-verbal memory function among old people using Persian version of dichotic auditory-verbal memory test. Methods: The Persian version of dic...

  14. Perceptual Plasticity for Auditory Object Recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heald, Shannon L. M.; Van Hedger, Stephen C.; Nusbaum, Howard C.

    2017-01-01

    In our auditory environment, we rarely experience the exact acoustic waveform twice. This is especially true for communicative signals that have meaning for listeners. In speech and music, the acoustic signal changes as a function of the talker (or instrument), speaking (or playing) rate, and room acoustics, to name a few factors. Yet, despite this acoustic variability, we are able to recognize a sentence or melody as the same across various kinds of acoustic inputs and determine meaning based on listening goals, expectations, context, and experience. The recognition process relates acoustic signals to prior experience despite variability in signal-relevant and signal-irrelevant acoustic properties, some of which could be considered as “noise” in service of a recognition goal. However, some acoustic variability, if systematic, is lawful and can be exploited by listeners to aid in recognition. Perceivable changes in systematic variability can herald a need for listeners to reorganize perception and reorient their attention to more immediately signal-relevant cues. This view is not incorporated currently in many extant theories of auditory perception, which traditionally reduce psychological or neural representations of perceptual objects and the processes that act on them to static entities. While this reduction is likely done for the sake of empirical tractability, such a reduction may seriously distort the perceptual process to be modeled. We argue that perceptual representations, as well as the processes underlying perception, are dynamically determined by an interaction between the uncertainty of the auditory signal and constraints of context. This suggests that the process of auditory recognition is highly context-dependent in that the identity of a given auditory object may be intrinsically tied to its preceding context. To argue for the flexible neural and psychological updating of sound-to-meaning mappings across speech and music, we draw upon examples

  15. Cortical Representations of Speech in a Multitalker Auditory Scene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puvvada, Krishna C; Simon, Jonathan Z

    2017-09-20

    The ability to parse a complex auditory scene into perceptual objects is facilitated by a hierarchical auditory system. Successive stages in the hierarchy transform an auditory scene of multiple overlapping sources, from peripheral tonotopically based representations in the auditory nerve, into perceptually distinct auditory-object-based representations in the auditory cortex. Here, using magnetoencephalography recordings from men and women, we investigate how a complex acoustic scene consisting of multiple speech sources is represented in distinct hierarchical stages of the auditory cortex. Using systems-theoretic methods of stimulus reconstruction, we show that the primary-like areas in the auditory cortex contain dominantly spectrotemporal-based representations of the entire auditory scene. Here, both attended and ignored speech streams are represented with almost equal fidelity, and a global representation of the full auditory scene with all its streams is a better candidate neural representation than that of individual streams being represented separately. We also show that higher-order auditory cortical areas, by contrast, represent the attended stream separately and with significantly higher fidelity than unattended streams. Furthermore, the unattended background streams are more faithfully represented as a single unsegregated background object rather than as separated objects. Together, these findings demonstrate the progression of the representations and processing of a complex acoustic scene up through the hierarchy of the human auditory cortex. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Using magnetoencephalography recordings from human listeners in a simulated cocktail party environment, we investigate how a complex acoustic scene consisting of multiple speech sources is represented in separate hierarchical stages of the auditory cortex. We show that the primary-like areas in the auditory cortex use a dominantly spectrotemporal-based representation of the entire auditory

  16. Auditory Connections and Functions of Prefrontal Cortex

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    Bethany ePlakke

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The functional auditory system extends from the ears to the frontal lobes with successively more complex functions occurring as one ascends the hierarchy of the nervous system. Several areas of the frontal lobe receive afferents from both early and late auditory processing regions within the temporal lobe. Afferents from the early part of the cortical auditory system, the auditory belt cortex, which are presumed to carry information regarding auditory features of sounds, project to only a few prefrontal regions and are most dense in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC. In contrast, projections from the parabelt and the rostral superior temporal gyrus (STG most likely convey more complex information and target a larger, widespread region of the prefrontal cortex. Neuronal responses reflect these anatomical projections as some prefrontal neurons exhibit responses to features in acoustic stimuli, while other neurons display task-related responses. For example, recording studies in non-human primates indicate that VLPFC is responsive to complex sounds including vocalizations and that VLPFC neurons in area 12/47 respond to sounds with similar acoustic morphology. In contrast, neuronal responses during auditory working memory involve a wider region of the prefrontal cortex. In humans, the frontal lobe is involved in auditory detection, discrimination, and working memory. Past research suggests that dorsal and ventral subregions of the prefrontal cortex process different types of information with dorsal cortex processing spatial/visual information and ventral cortex processing non-spatial/auditory information. While this is apparent in the non-human primate and in some neuroimaging studies, most research in humans indicates that specific task conditions, stimuli or previous experience may bias the recruitment of specific prefrontal regions, suggesting a more flexible role for the frontal lobe during auditory cognition.

  17. Auditory connections and functions of prefrontal cortex

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plakke, Bethany; Romanski, Lizabeth M.

    2014-01-01

    The functional auditory system extends from the ears to the frontal lobes with successively more complex functions occurring as one ascends the hierarchy of the nervous system. Several areas of the frontal lobe receive afferents from both early and late auditory processing regions within the temporal lobe. Afferents from the early part of the cortical auditory system, the auditory belt cortex, which are presumed to carry information regarding auditory features of sounds, project to only a few prefrontal regions and are most dense in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC). In contrast, projections from the parabelt and the rostral superior temporal gyrus (STG) most likely convey more complex information and target a larger, widespread region of the prefrontal cortex. Neuronal responses reflect these anatomical projections as some prefrontal neurons exhibit responses to features in acoustic stimuli, while other neurons display task-related responses. For example, recording studies in non-human primates indicate that VLPFC is responsive to complex sounds including vocalizations and that VLPFC neurons in area 12/47 respond to sounds with similar acoustic morphology. In contrast, neuronal responses during auditory working memory involve a wider region of the prefrontal cortex. In humans, the frontal lobe is involved in auditory detection, discrimination, and working memory. Past research suggests that dorsal and ventral subregions of the prefrontal cortex process different types of information with dorsal cortex processing spatial/visual information and ventral cortex processing non-spatial/auditory information. While this is apparent in the non-human primate and in some neuroimaging studies, most research in humans indicates that specific task conditions, stimuli or previous experience may bias the recruitment of specific prefrontal regions, suggesting a more flexible role for the frontal lobe during auditory cognition. PMID:25100931

  18. Auditory, visual, and auditory-visual perceptions of emotions by young children with hearing loss versus children with normal hearing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Most, Tova; Michaelis, Hilit

    2012-08-01

    This study aimed to investigate the effect of hearing loss (HL) on emotion-perception ability among young children with and without HL. A total of 26 children 4.0-6.6 years of age with prelingual sensory-neural HL ranging from moderate to profound and 14 children with normal hearing (NH) participated. They were asked to identify happiness, anger, sadness, and fear expressed by an actress when uttering the same neutral nonsense sentence. Their auditory, visual, and auditory-visual perceptions of the emotional content were assessed. The accuracy of emotion perception among children with HL was lower than that of the NH children in all 3 conditions: auditory, visual, and auditory-visual. Perception through the combined auditory-visual mode significantly surpassed the auditory or visual modes alone in both groups, indicating that children with HL utilized the auditory information for emotion perception. No significant differences in perception emerged according to degree of HL. In addition, children with profound HL and cochlear implants did not perform differently from children with less severe HL who used hearing aids. The relatively high accuracy of emotion perception by children with HL may be explained by their intensive rehabilitation, which emphasizes suprasegmental and paralinguistic aspects of verbal communication.

  19. Selective increase of auditory cortico-striatal coherence during auditory-cued Go/NoGo discrimination learning.

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    Andreas L. Schulz

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Goal directed behavior and associated learning processes are tightly linked to neuronal activity in the ventral striatum. Mechanisms that integrate task relevant sensory information into striatal processing during decision making and learning are implicitly assumed in current reinforcementmodels, yet they are still weakly understood. To identify the functional activation of cortico-striatal subpopulations of connections during auditory discrimination learning, we trained Mongolian gerbils in a two-way active avoidance task in a shuttlebox to discriminate between falling and rising frequency modulated tones with identical spectral properties. We assessed functional coupling by analyzing the field-field coherence between the auditory cortex and the ventral striatum of animals performing the task. During the course of training, we observed a selective increase of functionalcoupling during Go-stimulus presentations. These results suggest that the auditory cortex functionally interacts with the ventral striatum during auditory learning and that the strengthening of these functional connections is selectively goal-directed.

  20. Distraction by deviance: comparing the effects of auditory and visual deviant stimuli on auditory and visual target processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leiva, Alicia; Parmentier, Fabrice B R; Andrés, Pilar

    2015-01-01

    We report the results of oddball experiments in which an irrelevant stimulus (standard, deviant) was presented before a target stimulus and the modality of these stimuli was manipulated orthogonally (visual/auditory). Experiment 1 showed that auditory deviants yielded distraction irrespective of the target's modality while visual deviants did not impact on performance. When participants were forced to attend the distractors in order to detect a rare target ("target-distractor"), auditory deviants yielded distraction irrespective of the target's modality and visual deviants yielded a small distraction effect when targets were auditory (Experiments 2 & 3). Visual deviants only produced distraction for visual targets when deviant stimuli were not visually distinct from the other distractors (Experiment 4). Our results indicate that while auditory deviants yield distraction irrespective of the targets' modality, visual deviants only do so when attended and under selective conditions, at least when irrelevant and target stimuli are temporally and perceptually decoupled.

  1. Comparison on driving fatigue related hemodynamics activated by auditory and visual stimulus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Zishan; Gao, Yuan; Li, Ting

    2018-02-01

    As one of the main causes of traffic accidents, driving fatigue deserves researchers' attention and its detection and monitoring during long-term driving require a new technique to realize. Since functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) can be applied to detect cerebral hemodynamic responses, we can promisingly expect its application in fatigue level detection. Here, we performed three different kinds of experiments on a driver and recorded his cerebral hemodynamic responses when driving for long hours utilizing our device based on fNIRS. Each experiment lasted for 7 hours and one of the three specific experimental tests, detecting the driver's response to sounds, traffic lights and direction signs respectively, was done every hour. The results showed that visual stimulus was easier to cause fatigue compared with auditory stimulus and visual stimulus induced by traffic lights scenes was easier to cause fatigue compared with visual stimulus induced by direction signs in the first few hours. We also found that fatigue related hemodynamics caused by auditory stimulus increased fastest, then traffic lights scenes, and direction signs scenes slowest. Our study successfully compared audio, visual color, and visual character stimulus in sensitivity to cause driving fatigue, which is meaningful for driving safety management.

  2. Visual-induced expectations modulate auditory cortical responses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Virginie evan Wassenhove

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Active sensing has important consequences on multisensory processing (Schroeder et al. 2010. Here, we asked whether in the absence of saccades, the position of the eyes and the timing of transient colour changes of visual stimuli could selectively affect the excitability of auditory cortex by predicting the where and the when of a sound, respectively. Human participants were recorded with magnetoencephalography (MEG while maintaining the position of their eyes on the left, right, or centre of the screen. Participants counted colour changes of the fixation cross while neglecting sounds which could be presented to the left, right or both ears. First, clear alpha power increases were observed in auditory cortices, consistent with participants’ attention directed to visual inputs. Second, colour changes elicited robust modulations of auditory cortex responses (when prediction seen as ramping activity, early alpha phase-locked responses, and enhanced high-gamma band responses in the contralateral side of sound presentation. Third, no modulations of auditory evoked or oscillatory activity were found to be specific to eye position. Altogether, our results suggest that visual transience can automatically elicit a prediction of when a sound will occur by changing the excitability of auditory cortices irrespective of the attended modality, eye position or spatial congruency of auditory and visual events. To the contrary, auditory cortical responses were not significantly affected by eye position suggesting that where predictions may require active sensing or saccadic reset to modulate auditory cortex responses, notably in the absence of spatial orientation to sounds.

  3. Naftidrofuryl affects neurite regeneration by injured adult auditory neurons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lefebvre, P P; Staecker, H; Moonen, G; van de Water, T R

    1993-07-01

    Afferent auditory neurons are essential for the transmission of auditory information from Corti's organ to the central auditory pathway. Auditory neurons are very sensitive to acute insult and have a limited ability to regenerate injured neuronal processes. Therefore, these neurons appear to be a limiting factor in restoration of hearing function following an injury to the peripheral auditory receptor. In a previous study nerve growth factor (NGF) was shown to stimulate neurite repair but not survival of injured auditory neurons. In this study, we have demonstrated a neuritogenesis promoting effect of naftidrofuryl in an vitro model for injury to adult auditory neurons, i.e. dissociated cell cultures of adult rat spiral ganglia. Conversely, naftidrofuryl did not have any demonstrable survival promoting effect on these in vitro preparations of injured auditory neurons. The potential uses of this drug as a therapeutic agent in acute diseases of the inner ear are discussed in the light of these observations.

  4. Formal auditory training in adult hearing aid users

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniela Gil

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: Individuals with sensorineural hearing loss are often able to regain some lost auditory function with the help of hearing aids. However, hearing aids are not able to overcome auditory distortions such as impaired frequency resolution and speech understanding in noisy environments. The coexistence of peripheral hearing loss and a central auditory deficit may contribute to patient dissatisfaction with amplification, even when audiological tests indicate nearly normal hearing thresholds. OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to validate the effects of a formal auditory training program in adult hearing aid users with mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss. METHODS: Fourteen bilateral hearing aid users were divided into two groups: seven who received auditory training and seven who did not. The training program was designed to improve auditory closure, figure-to-ground for verbal and nonverbal sounds and temporal processing (frequency and duration of sounds. Pre- and post-training evaluations included measuring electrophysiological and behavioral auditory processing and administration of the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB self-report scale. RESULTS: The post-training evaluation of the experimental group demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in P3 latency, improved performance in some of the behavioral auditory processing tests and higher hearing aid benefit in noisy situations (p-value < 0,05. No changes were noted for the control group (p-value <0,05. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrated that auditory training in adult hearing aid users can lead to a reduction in P3 latency, improvements in sound localization, memory for nonverbal sounds in sequence, auditory closure, figure-to-ground for verbal sounds and greater benefits in reverberant and noisy environments.

  5. The role of auditory cortices in the retrieval of single-trial auditory-visual object memories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matusz, Pawel J; Thelen, Antonia; Amrein, Sarah; Geiser, Eveline; Anken, Jacques; Murray, Micah M

    2015-03-01

    Single-trial encounters with multisensory stimuli affect both memory performance and early-latency brain responses to visual stimuli. Whether and how auditory cortices support memory processes based on single-trial multisensory learning is unknown and may differ qualitatively and quantitatively from comparable processes within visual cortices due to purported differences in memory capacities across the senses. We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) as healthy adults (n = 18) performed a continuous recognition task in the auditory modality, discriminating initial (new) from repeated (old) sounds of environmental objects. Initial presentations were either unisensory or multisensory; the latter entailed synchronous presentation of a semantically congruent or a meaningless image. Repeated presentations were exclusively auditory, thus differing only according to the context in which the sound was initially encountered. Discrimination abilities (indexed by d') were increased for repeated sounds that were initially encountered with a semantically congruent image versus sounds initially encountered with either a meaningless or no image. Analyses of ERPs within an electrical neuroimaging framework revealed that early stages of auditory processing of repeated sounds were affected by prior single-trial multisensory contexts. These effects followed from significantly reduced activity within a distributed network, including the right superior temporal cortex, suggesting an inverse relationship between brain activity and behavioural outcome on this task. The present findings demonstrate how auditory cortices contribute to long-term effects of multisensory experiences on auditory object discrimination. We propose a new framework for the efficacy of multisensory processes to impact both current multisensory stimulus processing and unisensory discrimination abilities later in time. © 2015 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  6. Emergence of auditory-visual relations from a visual-visual baseline with auditory-specific consequences in individuals with autism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varella, André A B; de Souza, Deisy G

    2014-07-01

    Empirical studies have demonstrated that class-specific contingencies may engender stimulus-reinforcer relations. In these studies, crossmodal relations emerged when crossmodal relations comprised the baseline, and intramodal relations emerged when intramodal relations were taught during baseline. This study investigated whether auditory-visual relations (crossmodal) would emerge after participants learned a visual-visual baseline (intramodal) with auditory stimuli presented as specific consequences. Four individuals with autism learned AB and CD relations with class-specific reinforcers. When A1 and C1 were presented as samples, the selections of B1 and D1, respectively, were followed by an edible (R1) and a sound (S1). Selections of B2 and D2 under the control of A2 and C2, respectively, were followed by R2 and S2. Probe trials tested for visual-visual AC, CA, AD, DA, BC, CB, BD, and DB emergent relations and auditory-visual SA, SB, SC, and SD emergent relations. All of the participants demonstrated the emergence of all auditory-visual relations, and three of four participants showed emergence of all visual-visual relations. Thus, the emergence of auditory-visual relations from specific auditory consequences suggests that these relations do not depend on crossmodal baseline training. The procedure has great potential for applied technology to generate auditory-visual discriminations and stimulus classes in the context of behavior-analytic interventions for autism. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

  7. Auditory cortex involvement in emotional learning and memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grosso, A; Cambiaghi, M; Concina, G; Sacco, T; Sacchetti, B

    2015-07-23

    Emotional memories represent the core of human and animal life and drive future choices and behaviors. Early research involving brain lesion studies in animals lead to the idea that the auditory cortex participates in emotional learning by processing the sensory features of auditory stimuli paired with emotional consequences and by transmitting this information to the amygdala. Nevertheless, electrophysiological and imaging studies revealed that, following emotional experiences, the auditory cortex undergoes learning-induced changes that are highly specific, associative and long lasting. These studies suggested that the role played by the auditory cortex goes beyond stimulus elaboration and transmission. Here, we discuss three major perspectives created by these data. In particular, we analyze the possible roles of the auditory cortex in emotional learning, we examine the recruitment of the auditory cortex during early and late memory trace encoding, and finally we consider the functional interplay between the auditory cortex and subcortical nuclei, such as the amygdala, that process affective information. We conclude that, starting from the early phase of memory encoding, the auditory cortex has a more prominent role in emotional learning, through its connections with subcortical nuclei, than is typically acknowledged. Copyright © 2015 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Increased BOLD Signals Elicited by High Gamma Auditory Stimulation of the Left Auditory Cortex in Acute State Schizophrenia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hironori Kuga, M.D.

    2016-10-01

    We acquired BOLD responses elicited by click trains of 20, 30, 40 and 80-Hz frequencies from 15 patients with acute episode schizophrenia (AESZ, 14 symptom-severity-matched patients with non-acute episode schizophrenia (NASZ, and 24 healthy controls (HC, assessed via a standard general linear-model-based analysis. The AESZ group showed significantly increased ASSR-BOLD signals to 80-Hz stimuli in the left auditory cortex compared with the HC and NASZ groups. In addition, enhanced 80-Hz ASSR-BOLD signals were associated with more severe auditory hallucination experiences in AESZ participants. The present results indicate that neural over activation occurs during 80-Hz auditory stimulation of the left auditory cortex in individuals with acute state schizophrenia. Given the possible association between abnormal gamma activity and increased glutamate levels, our data may reflect glutamate toxicity in the auditory cortex in the acute state of schizophrenia, which might lead to progressive changes in the left transverse temporal gyrus.

  9. Auditory cortical processing in real-world listening: the auditory system going real.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nelken, Israel; Bizley, Jennifer; Shamma, Shihab A; Wang, Xiaoqin

    2014-11-12

    The auditory sense of humans transforms intrinsically senseless pressure waveforms into spectacularly rich perceptual phenomena: the music of Bach or the Beatles, the poetry of Li Bai or Omar Khayyam, or more prosaically the sense of the world filled with objects emitting sounds that is so important for those of us lucky enough to have hearing. Whereas the early representations of sounds in the auditory system are based on their physical structure, higher auditory centers are thought to represent sounds in terms of their perceptual attributes. In this symposium, we will illustrate the current research into this process, using four case studies. We will illustrate how the spectral and temporal properties of sounds are used to bind together, segregate, categorize, and interpret sound patterns on their way to acquire meaning, with important lessons to other sensory systems as well. Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/3415135-04$15.00/0.

  10. Metrological analysis of constancy tests in conventional medical X-ray equipment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alvarenga, Frederico L.; Oliveira, Paulo Marcio C.; Squair, Peterson L.; Soares, Carlos M.; Silva, Teogenes A. da

    2005-01-01

    Constancy tests in x-ray diagnostic machines should follow performance requirements with the aim to verify their safety and quality and to protect workers, patients and public members that are or may be exposed to ionizing radiation risks. In the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, from 1999 to 2004, 110 radiometric and evaluation reports of x-ray machines were issued by accredited professionals. Most of the reports did not provide the estimation of the measurement uncertainty that should be part of the results; it means that there is a lack of metrological care in such reports which may cause difficulties to get a conclusive analysis. In this work, relevant sources of uncertainties were identified and estimated for the following tests carried out in a conventional x-ray machine: high voltage accuracy and reproducibility, air kerma rate repeatability and linearity and half-value layer determination. This work gives details on the methodology and the expanded and combined uncertainty values for each measuring procedure, which may be adopted as representative values for analysis of radiometric report. (author)

  11. Tinnitus alters resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) in human auditory and non-auditory brain regions as measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).

    Science.gov (United States)

    San Juan, Juan; Hu, Xiao-Su; Issa, Mohamad; Bisconti, Silvia; Kovelman, Ioulia; Kileny, Paul; Basura, Gregory

    2017-01-01

    Tinnitus, or phantom sound perception, leads to increased spontaneous neural firing rates and enhanced synchrony in central auditory circuits in animal models. These putative physiologic correlates of tinnitus to date have not been well translated in the brain of the human tinnitus sufferer. Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) we recently showed that tinnitus in humans leads to maintained hemodynamic activity in auditory and adjacent, non-auditory cortices. Here we used fNIRS technology to investigate changes in resting state functional connectivity between human auditory and non-auditory brain regions in normal-hearing, bilateral subjective tinnitus and controls before and after auditory stimulation. Hemodynamic activity was monitored over the region of interest (primary auditory cortex) and non-region of interest (adjacent non-auditory cortices) and functional brain connectivity was measured during a 60-second baseline/period of silence before and after a passive auditory challenge consisting of alternating pure tones (750 and 8000Hz), broadband noise and silence. Functional connectivity was measured between all channel-pairs. Prior to stimulation, connectivity of the region of interest to the temporal and fronto-temporal region was decreased in tinnitus participants compared to controls. Overall, connectivity in tinnitus was differentially altered as compared to controls following sound stimulation. Enhanced connectivity was seen in both auditory and non-auditory regions in the tinnitus brain, while controls showed a decrease in connectivity following sound stimulation. In tinnitus, the strength of connectivity was increased between auditory cortex and fronto-temporal, fronto-parietal, temporal, occipito-temporal and occipital cortices. Together these data suggest that central auditory and non-auditory brain regions are modified in tinnitus and that resting functional connectivity measured by fNIRS technology may contribute to conscious phantom

  12. Tinnitus alters resting state functional connectivity (RSFC in human auditory and non-auditory brain regions as measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan San Juan

    Full Text Available Tinnitus, or phantom sound perception, leads to increased spontaneous neural firing rates and enhanced synchrony in central auditory circuits in animal models. These putative physiologic correlates of tinnitus to date have not been well translated in the brain of the human tinnitus sufferer. Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS we recently showed that tinnitus in humans leads to maintained hemodynamic activity in auditory and adjacent, non-auditory cortices. Here we used fNIRS technology to investigate changes in resting state functional connectivity between human auditory and non-auditory brain regions in normal-hearing, bilateral subjective tinnitus and controls before and after auditory stimulation. Hemodynamic activity was monitored over the region of interest (primary auditory cortex and non-region of interest (adjacent non-auditory cortices and functional brain connectivity was measured during a 60-second baseline/period of silence before and after a passive auditory challenge consisting of alternating pure tones (750 and 8000Hz, broadband noise and silence. Functional connectivity was measured between all channel-pairs. Prior to stimulation, connectivity of the region of interest to the temporal and fronto-temporal region was decreased in tinnitus participants compared to controls. Overall, connectivity in tinnitus was differentially altered as compared to controls following sound stimulation. Enhanced connectivity was seen in both auditory and non-auditory regions in the tinnitus brain, while controls showed a decrease in connectivity following sound stimulation. In tinnitus, the strength of connectivity was increased between auditory cortex and fronto-temporal, fronto-parietal, temporal, occipito-temporal and occipital cortices. Together these data suggest that central auditory and non-auditory brain regions are modified in tinnitus and that resting functional connectivity measured by fNIRS technology may contribute to

  13. Specialized prefrontal auditory fields: organization of primate prefrontal-temporal pathways

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria eMedalla

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available No other modality is more frequently represented in the prefrontal cortex than the auditory, but the role of auditory information in prefrontal functions is not well understood. Pathways from auditory association cortices reach distinct sites in the lateral, orbital, and medial surfaces of the prefrontal cortex in rhesus monkeys. Among prefrontal areas, frontopolar area 10 has the densest interconnections with auditory association areas, spanning a large antero-posterior extent of the superior temporal gyrus from the temporal pole to auditory parabelt and belt regions. Moreover, auditory pathways make up the largest component of the extrinsic connections of area 10, suggesting a special relationship with the auditory modality. Here we review anatomic evidence showing that frontopolar area 10 is indeed the main frontal auditory field as the major recipient of auditory input in the frontal lobe and chief source of output to auditory cortices. Area 10 is thought to be the functional node for the most complex cognitive tasks of multitasking and keeping track of information for future decisions. These patterns suggest that the auditory association links of area 10 are critical for complex cognition. The first part of this review focuses on the organization of prefrontal-auditory pathways at the level of the system and the synapse, with a particular emphasis on area 10. Then we explore ideas on how the elusive role of area 10 in complex cognition may be related to the specialized relationship with auditory association cortices.

  14. Auditory Neuropathy

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... children and adults with auditory neuropathy. Cochlear implants (electronic devices that compensate for damaged or nonworking parts ... and Drug Administration: Information on Cochlear Implants Telecommunications Relay Services Your Baby's Hearing Screening News Deaf health ...

  15. Dynamics of auditory working memory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jochen eKaiser

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Working memory denotes the ability to retain stimuli in mind that are no longer physically present and to perform mental operations on them. Electro- and magnetoencephalography allow investigating the short-term maintenance of acoustic stimuli at a high temporal resolution. Studies investigating working memory for non-spatial and spatial auditory information have suggested differential roles of regions along the putative auditory ventral and dorsal streams, respectively, in the processing of the different sound properties. Analyses of event-related potentials have shown sustained, memory load-dependent deflections over the retention periods. The topography of these waves suggested an involvement of modality-specific sensory storage regions. Spectral analysis has yielded information about the temporal dynamics of auditory working memory processing of individual stimuli, showing activation peaks during the delay phase whose timing was related to task performance. Coherence at different frequencies was enhanced between frontal and sensory cortex. In summary, auditory working memory seems to rely on the dynamic interplay between frontal executive systems and sensory representation regions.

  16. Speech Evoked Auditory Brainstem Response in Stuttering

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    Ali Akbar Tahaei

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Auditory processing deficits have been hypothesized as an underlying mechanism for stuttering. Previous studies have demonstrated abnormal responses in subjects with persistent developmental stuttering (PDS at the higher level of the central auditory system using speech stimuli. Recently, the potential usefulness of speech evoked auditory brainstem responses in central auditory processing disorders has been emphasized. The current study used the speech evoked ABR to investigate the hypothesis that subjects with PDS have specific auditory perceptual dysfunction. Objectives. To determine whether brainstem responses to speech stimuli differ between PDS subjects and normal fluent speakers. Methods. Twenty-five subjects with PDS participated in this study. The speech-ABRs were elicited by the 5-formant synthesized syllable/da/, with duration of 40 ms. Results. There were significant group differences for the onset and offset transient peaks. Subjects with PDS had longer latencies for the onset and offset peaks relative to the control group. Conclusions. Subjects with PDS showed a deficient neural timing in the early stages of the auditory pathway consistent with temporal processing deficits and their abnormal timing may underlie to their disfluency.

  17. Auditory and visual memory in musicians and nonmusicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, Michael A; Evans, Karla K; Horowitz, Todd S; Wolfe, Jeremy M

    2011-06-01

    Numerous studies have shown that musicians outperform nonmusicians on a variety of tasks. Here we provide the first evidence that musicians have superior auditory recognition memory for both musical and nonmusical stimuli, compared to nonmusicians. However, this advantage did not generalize to the visual domain. Previously, we showed that auditory recognition memory is inferior to visual recognition memory. Would this be true even for trained musicians? We compared auditory and visual memory in musicians and nonmusicians using familiar music, spoken English, and visual objects. For both groups, memory for the auditory stimuli was inferior to memory for the visual objects. Thus, although considerable musical training is associated with better musical and nonmusical auditory memory, it does not increase the ability to remember sounds to the levels found with visual stimuli. This suggests a fundamental capacity difference between auditory and visual recognition memory, with a persistent advantage for the visual domain.

  18. Auditory hallucinations and PTSD in ex-POWS

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Crompton, Laura; Lahav, Yael; Solomon, Zahava

    2017-01-01

    (PTSD) symptoms, over time. Former prisoners of war (ex-POWs) from the 1973 Yom Kippur War (n = 99) with and without PTSD and comparable veterans (n = 103) were assessed twice, in 1991 (T1) and 2003 (T2) in regard to auditory hallucinations and PTSD symptoms. Findings indicated that ex-POWs who suffered...... from PTSD reported higher levels of auditory hallucinations at T2 as well as increased hallucinations over time, compared to ex-POWs without PTSD and combatants who did not endure captivity. The relation between PTSD and auditory hallucinations was unidirectional, so that the PTSD overall score at T1...... predicted an increase in auditory hallucinations between T1 and T2, but not vice versa. Assessing the role of PTSD clusters in predicting hallucinations revealed that intrusion symptoms had a unique contribution, compared to avoidance and hyperarousal symptoms. The findings suggest that auditory...

  19. Functional mapping of the primate auditory system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poremba, Amy; Saunders, Richard C; Crane, Alison M; Cook, Michelle; Sokoloff, Louis; Mishkin, Mortimer

    2003-01-24

    Cerebral auditory areas were delineated in the awake, passively listening, rhesus monkey by comparing the rates of glucose utilization in an intact hemisphere and in an acoustically isolated contralateral hemisphere of the same animal. The auditory system defined in this way occupied large portions of cerebral tissue, an extent probably second only to that of the visual system. Cortically, the activated areas included the entire superior temporal gyrus and large portions of the parietal, prefrontal, and limbic lobes. Several auditory areas overlapped with previously identified visual areas, suggesting that the auditory system, like the visual system, contains separate pathways for processing stimulus quality, location, and motion.

  20. Impossible promise: the child and the androgyne in Thomas Kilroy's The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde and My Scandalous LifeDOI:10.5007/2175-8026.2010n58p267

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Lanters

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available In The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde and My Scandalous Life, the impossible ideals of perfect harmony between the sexes and perfect innocence are symbolically represented by the figures of the Androgyne and the child. In a process that illustrates the Wildean paradox that "each man kills the thing he loves," Oscar and Constance Wilde on the one hand, Alfred Douglas and Olive Custance on the other, fight each other over possession of their children, in that very act destroying both the ideal of androgynous harmony and that of childish innocence. Only by performing their worst nightmares, embracing the darkness within themselves, and acknowledging that innocence contains its own corruption, can the characters restore some form of equilibrium.

  1. Auditory recognition memory is inferior to visual recognition memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, Michael A; Horowitz, Todd S; Wolfe, Jeremy M

    2009-04-07

    Visual memory for scenes is surprisingly robust. We wished to examine whether an analogous ability exists in the auditory domain. Participants listened to a variety of sound clips and were tested on their ability to distinguish old from new clips. Stimuli ranged from complex auditory scenes (e.g., talking in a pool hall) to isolated auditory objects (e.g., a dog barking) to music. In some conditions, additional information was provided to help participants with encoding. In every situation, however, auditory memory proved to be systematically inferior to visual memory. This suggests that there exists either a fundamental difference between auditory and visual stimuli, or, more plausibly, an asymmetry between auditory and visual processing.

  2. Reduced auditory efferent activity in childhood selective mutism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bar-Haim, Yair; Henkin, Yael; Ari-Even-Roth, Daphne; Tetin-Schneider, Simona; Hildesheimer, Minka; Muchnik, Chava

    2004-06-01

    Selective mutism is a psychiatric disorder of childhood characterized by consistent inability to speak in specific situations despite the ability to speak normally in others. The objective of this study was to test whether reduced auditory efferent activity, which may have direct bearings on speaking behavior, is compromised in selectively mute children. Participants were 16 children with selective mutism and 16 normally developing control children matched for age and gender. All children were tested for pure-tone audiometry, speech reception thresholds, speech discrimination, middle-ear acoustic reflex thresholds and decay function, transient evoked otoacoustic emission, suppression of transient evoked otoacoustic emission, and auditory brainstem response. Compared with control children, selectively mute children displayed specific deficiencies in auditory efferent activity. These aberrations in efferent activity appear along with normal pure-tone and speech audiometry and normal brainstem transmission as indicated by auditory brainstem response latencies. The diminished auditory efferent activity detected in some children with SM may result in desensitization of their auditory pathways by self-vocalization and in reduced control of masking and distortion of incoming speech sounds. These children may gradually learn to restrict vocalization to the minimal amount possible in contexts that require complex auditory processing.

  3. The effects of divided attention on auditory priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mulligan, Neil W; Duke, Marquinn; Cooper, Angela W

    2007-09-01

    Traditional theorizing stresses the importance of attentional state during encoding for later memory, based primarily on research with explicit memory. Recent research has begun to investigate the role of attention in implicit memory but has focused almost exclusively on priming in the visual modality. The present experiments examined the effect of divided attention on auditory implicit memory, using auditory perceptual identification, word-stem completion and word-fragment completion. Participants heard study words under full attention conditions or while simultaneously carrying out a distractor task (the divided attention condition). In Experiment 1, a distractor task with low response frequency failed to disrupt later auditory priming (but diminished explicit memory as assessed with auditory recognition). In Experiment 2, a distractor task with greater response frequency disrupted priming on all three of the auditory priming tasks as well as the explicit test. These results imply that although auditory priming is less reliant on attention than explicit memory, it is still greatly affected by at least some divided-attention manipulations. These results are consistent with research using visual priming tasks and have relevance for hypotheses regarding attention and auditory priming.

  4. Auditory memory function in expert chess players.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fattahi, Fariba; Geshani, Ahmad; Jafari, Zahra; Jalaie, Shohreh; Salman Mahini, Mona

    2015-01-01

    Chess is a game that involves many aspects of high level cognition such as memory, attention, focus and problem solving. Long term practice of chess can improve cognition performances and behavioral skills. Auditory memory, as a kind of memory, can be influenced by strengthening processes following long term chess playing like other behavioral skills because of common processing pathways in the brain. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the auditory memory function of expert chess players using the Persian version of dichotic auditory-verbal memory test. The Persian version of dichotic auditory-verbal memory test was performed for 30 expert chess players aged 20-35 years and 30 non chess players who were matched by different conditions; the participants in both groups were randomly selected. The performance of the two groups was compared by independent samples t-test using SPSS version 21. The mean score of dichotic auditory-verbal memory test between the two groups, expert chess players and non-chess players, revealed a significant difference (p≤ 0.001). The difference between the ears scores for expert chess players (p= 0.023) and non-chess players (p= 0.013) was significant. Gender had no effect on the test results. Auditory memory function in expert chess players was significantly better compared to non-chess players. It seems that increased auditory memory function is related to strengthening cognitive performances due to playing chess for a long time.

  5. Aging increases distraction by auditory oddballs in visual, but not auditory tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leiva, Alicia; Parmentier, Fabrice B R; Andrés, Pilar

    2015-05-01

    Aging is typically considered to bring a reduction of the ability to resist distraction by task-irrelevant stimuli. Yet recent work suggests that this conclusion must be qualified and that the effect of aging is mitigated by whether irrelevant and target stimuli emanate from the same modalities or from distinct ones. Some studies suggest that aging is especially sensitive to distraction within-modality while others suggest it is greater across modalities. Here we report the first study to measure the effect of aging on deviance distraction in cross-modal (auditory-visual) and uni-modal (auditory-auditory) oddball tasks. Young and older adults were asked to judge the parity of target digits (auditory or visual in distinct blocks of trials), each preceded by a task-irrelevant sound (the same tone on most trials-the standard sound-or, on rare and unpredictable trials, a burst of white noise-the deviant sound). Deviant sounds yielded distraction (longer response times relative to standard sounds) in both tasks and age groups. However, an age-related increase in distraction was observed in the cross-modal task and not in the uni-modal task. We argue that aging might affect processes involved in the switching of attention across modalities and speculate that this may due to the slowing of this type of attentional shift or a reduction in cognitive control required to re-orient attention toward the target's modality.

  6. Perceptual consequences of disrupted auditory nerve activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Fan-Gang; Kong, Ying-Yee; Michalewski, Henry J; Starr, Arnold

    2005-06-01

    Perceptual consequences of disrupted auditory nerve activity were systematically studied in 21 subjects who had been clinically diagnosed with auditory neuropathy (AN), a recently defined disorder characterized by normal outer hair cell function but disrupted auditory nerve function. Neurological and electrophysical evidence suggests that disrupted auditory nerve activity is due to desynchronized or reduced neural activity or both. Psychophysical measures showed that the disrupted neural activity has minimal effects on intensity-related perception, such as loudness discrimination, pitch discrimination at high frequencies, and sound localization using interaural level differences. In contrast, the disrupted neural activity significantly impairs timing related perception, such as pitch discrimination at low frequencies, temporal integration, gap detection, temporal modulation detection, backward and forward masking, signal detection in noise, binaural beats, and sound localization using interaural time differences. These perceptual consequences are the opposite of what is typically observed in cochlear-impaired subjects who have impaired intensity perception but relatively normal temporal processing after taking their impaired intensity perception into account. These differences in perceptual consequences between auditory neuropathy and cochlear damage suggest the use of different neural codes in auditory perception: a suboptimal spike count code for intensity processing, a synchronized spike code for temporal processing, and a duplex code for frequency processing. We also proposed two underlying physiological models based on desynchronized and reduced discharge in the auditory nerve to successfully account for the observed neurological and behavioral data. These methods and measures cannot differentiate between these two AN models, but future studies using electric stimulation of the auditory nerve via a cochlear implant might. These results not only show the unique

  7. Comorbidity of Auditory Processing, Language, and Reading Disorders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharma, Mridula; Purdy, Suzanne C.; Kelly, Andrea S.

    2009-01-01

    Purpose: The authors assessed comorbidity of auditory processing disorder (APD), language impairment (LI), and reading disorder (RD) in school-age children. Method: Children (N = 68) with suspected APD and nonverbal IQ standard scores of 80 or more were assessed using auditory, language, reading, attention, and memory measures. Auditory processing…

  8. Processing of Color Words Activates Color Representations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richter, Tobias; Zwaan, Rolf A.

    2009-01-01

    Two experiments were conducted to investigate whether color representations are routinely activated when color words are processed. Congruency effects of colors and color words were observed in both directions. Lexical decisions on color words were faster when preceding colors matched the color named by the word. Color-discrimination responses…

  9. Auditory Preferences of Young Children with and without Hearing Loss for Meaningful Auditory-Visual Compound Stimuli

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zupan, Barbra; Sussman, Joan E.

    2009-01-01

    Experiment 1 examined modality preferences in children and adults with normal hearing to combined auditory-visual stimuli. Experiment 2 compared modality preferences in children using cochlear implants participating in an auditory emphasized therapy approach to the children with normal hearing from Experiment 1. A second objective in both…

  10. Color categories and color appearance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webster, Michael A.; Kay, Paul

    2011-01-01

    We examined categorical effects in color appearance in two tasks, which in part differed in the extent to which color naming was explicitly required for the response. In one, we measured the effects of color differences on perceptual grouping for hues that spanned the blue–green boundary, to test whether chromatic differences across the boundary were perceptually exaggerated. This task did not require overt judgments of the perceived colors, and the tendency to group showed only a weak and inconsistent categorical bias. In a second case, we analyzed results from two prior studies of hue scaling of chromatic stimuli (De Valois, De Valois, Switkes, & Mahon, 1997; Malkoc, Kay, & Webster, 2005), to test whether color appearance changed more rapidly around the blue–green boundary. In this task observers directly judge the perceived color of the stimuli and these judgments tended to show much stronger categorical effects. The differences between these tasks could arise either because different signals mediate color grouping and color appearance, or because linguistic categories might differentially intrude on the response to color and/or on the perception of color. Our results suggest that the interaction between language and color processing may be highly dependent on the specific task and cognitive demands and strategies of the observer, and also highlight pronounced individual differences in the tendency to exhibit categorical responses. PMID:22176751

  11. Cross-modal processing in auditory and visual working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suchan, Boris; Linnewerth, Britta; Köster, Odo; Daum, Irene; Schmid, Gebhard

    2006-02-01

    This study aimed to further explore processing of auditory and visual stimuli in working memory. Smith and Jonides (1997) [Smith, E.E., Jonides, J., 1997. Working memory: A view from neuroimaging. Cogn. Psychol. 33, 5-42] described a modified working memory model in which visual input is automatically transformed into a phonological code. To study this process, auditory and the corresponding visual stimuli were presented in a variant of the 2-back task which involved changes from the auditory to the visual modality and vice versa. Brain activation patterns underlying visual and auditory processing as well as transformation mechanisms were analyzed. Results yielded a significant activation in the left primary auditory cortex associated with transformation of visual into auditory information which reflects the matching and recoding of a stored item and its modality. This finding yields empirical evidence for a transformation of visual input into a phonological code, with the auditory cortex as the neural correlate of the recoding process in working memory.

  12. Auditory motion capturing ambiguous visual motion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arjen eAlink

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available In this study, it is demonstrated that moving sounds have an effect on the direction in which one sees visual stimuli move. During the main experiment sounds were presented consecutively at four speaker locations inducing left- or rightwards auditory apparent motion. On the path of auditory apparent motion, visual apparent motion stimuli were presented with a high degree of directional ambiguity. The main outcome of this experiment is that our participants perceived visual apparent motion stimuli that were ambiguous (equally likely to be perceived as moving left- or rightwards more often as moving in the same direction than in the opposite direction of auditory apparent motion. During the control experiment we replicated this finding and found no effect of sound motion direction on eye movements. This indicates that auditory motion can capture our visual motion percept when visual motion direction is insufficiently determinate without affecting eye movements.

  13. Auditory/visual distance estimation: accuracy and variability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul Wallace Anderson

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Past research has shown that auditory distance estimation improves when listeners are given the opportunity to see all possible sound sources when compared to no visual input. It has also been established that distance estimation is more accurate in vision than in audition. The present study investigates the degree to which auditory distance estimation is improved when matched with a congruent visual stimulus. Virtual sound sources based on binaural room impulse response (BRIR measurements made from distances ranging from approximately 0.3 to 9.8 m in a concert hall were used as auditory stimuli. Visual stimuli were photographs taken from the listener’s perspective at each distance in the impulse response measurement setup presented on a large HDTV monitor. Listeners were asked to estimate egocentric distance to the sound source in each of three conditions: auditory only (A, visual only (V, and congruent auditory/visual stimuli (A+V. Each condition was presented within its own block. Sixty-two listeners were tested in order to quantify the response variability inherent in auditory distance perception. Distance estimates from both the V and A+V conditions were found to be considerably more accurate and less variable than estimates from the A condition.

  14. Auditory Hypersensitivity in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucker, Jay R.

    2013-01-01

    A review of records was completed to determine whether children with auditory hypersensitivities have difficulty tolerating loud sounds due to auditory-system factors or some other factors not directly involving the auditory system. Records of 150 children identified as not meeting autism spectrum disorders (ASD) criteria and another 50 meeting…

  15. Preferred skin color enhancement for photographic color reproduction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Huanzhao; Luo, Ronnier

    2011-01-01

    Skin tones are the most important colors among the memory color category. Reproducing skin colors pleasingly is an important factor in photographic color reproduction. Moving skin colors toward their preferred skin color center improves the color preference of skin color reproduction. Several methods to morph skin colors to a smaller preferred skin color region has been reported in the past. In this paper, a new approach is proposed to further improve the result of skin color enhancement. An ellipsoid skin color model is applied to compute skin color probabilities for skin color detection and to determine a weight for skin color adjustment. Preferred skin color centers determined through psychophysical experiments were applied for color adjustment. Preferred skin color centers for dark, medium, and light skin colors are applied to adjust skin colors differently. Skin colors are morphed toward their preferred color centers. A special processing is applied to avoid contrast loss in highlight. A 3-D interpolation method is applied to fix a potential contouring problem and to improve color processing efficiency. An psychophysical experiment validates that the method of preferred skin color enhancement effectively identifies skin colors, improves the skin color preference, and does not objectionably affect preferred skin colors in original images.

  16. Auditory temporal processing skills in musicians with dyslexia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bishop-Liebler, Paula; Welch, Graham; Huss, Martina; Thomson, Jennifer M; Goswami, Usha

    2014-08-01

    The core cognitive difficulty in developmental dyslexia involves phonological processing, but adults and children with dyslexia also have sensory impairments. Impairments in basic auditory processing show particular links with phonological impairments, and recent studies with dyslexic children across languages reveal a relationship between auditory temporal processing and sensitivity to rhythmic timing and speech rhythm. As rhythm is explicit in music, musical training might have a beneficial effect on the auditory perception of acoustic cues to rhythm in dyslexia. Here we took advantage of the presence of musicians with and without dyslexia in musical conservatoires, comparing their auditory temporal processing abilities with those of dyslexic non-musicians matched for cognitive ability. Musicians with dyslexia showed equivalent auditory sensitivity to musicians without dyslexia and also showed equivalent rhythm perception. The data support the view that extensive rhythmic experience initiated during childhood (here in the form of music training) can affect basic auditory processing skills which are found to be deficient in individuals with dyslexia. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  17. Interaction of language, auditory and memory brain networks in auditory verbal hallucinations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ćurčić-Blake, Branislava; Ford, Judith M; Hubl, Daniela; Orlov, Natasza D; Sommer, Iris E; Waters, Flavie; Allen, Paul; Jardri, Renaud; Woodruff, Peter W; David, Olivier; Mulert, Christoph; Woodward, Todd S; Aleman, André

    2017-01-01

    Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) occur in psychotic disorders, but also as a symptom of other conditions and even in healthy people. Several current theories on the origin of AVH converge, with neuroimaging studies suggesting that the language, auditory and memory/limbic networks are of particular relevance. However, reconciliation of these theories with experimental evidence is missing. We review 50 studies investigating functional (EEG and fMRI) and anatomic (diffusion tensor imaging) connectivity in these networks, and explore the evidence supporting abnormal connectivity in these networks associated with AVH. We distinguish between functional connectivity during an actual hallucination experience (symptom capture) and functional connectivity during either the resting state or a task comparing individuals who hallucinate with those who do not (symptom association studies). Symptom capture studies clearly reveal a pattern of increased coupling among the auditory, language and striatal regions. Anatomical and symptom association functional studies suggest that the interhemispheric connectivity between posterior auditory regions may depend on the phase of illness, with increases in non-psychotic individuals and first episode patients and decreases in chronic patients. Leading hypotheses involving concepts as unstable memories, source monitoring, top-down attention, and hybrid models of hallucinations are supported in part by the published connectivity data, although several caveats and inconsistencies remain. Specifically, possible changes in fronto-temporal connectivity are still under debate. Precise hypotheses concerning the directionality of connections deduced from current theoretical approaches should be tested using experimental approaches that allow for discrimination of competing hypotheses. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  18. TL sensitivity constancy of quartz upon UV+(β,γ) irradiation cycle: An improvement on dating methodology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Souza, J.H.

    1985-01-01

    Thermoluminescence (TL) sensivitivy of natural quartz (beaches, paleobeaches and fixed dunes) to Beta and Gamma rays has been studied in a temperature range between 250-400 0 C, before and after bleaching by solar irradiation. A first TL glow growth curve was obtained through Beta irradiation of 'as found' samples and a second glow growth curve was obtained by bleaching through solar irradiation the TL acquired either through an excitation Gamma dose or through environmental radiation to finally re-irradiate the samples under Beta rays. Experimental results showing the constancy of sensitivity, for doses of until about 10K rads, are the basis for a proposal to improve TL dating methodology expanding its present limits. (Author) [pt

  19. Auditory memory can be object based.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dyson, Benjamin J; Ishfaq, Feraz

    2008-04-01

    Identifying how memories are organized remains a fundamental issue in psychology. Previous work has shown that visual short-term memory is organized according to the object of origin, with participants being better at retrieving multiple pieces of information from the same object than from different objects. However, it is not yet clear whether similar memory structures are employed for other modalities, such as audition. Under analogous conditions in the auditory domain, we found that short-term memories for sound can also be organized according to object, with a same-object advantage being demonstrated for the retrieval of information in an auditory scene defined by two complex sounds overlapping in both space and time. Our results provide support for the notion of an auditory object, in addition to the continued identification of similar processing constraints across visual and auditory domains. The identification of modality-independent organizational principles of memory, such as object-based coding, suggests possible mechanisms by which the human processing system remembers multimodal experiences.

  20. Effect of neonatal asphyxia on the impairment of the auditory pathway by recording auditory brainstem responses in newborn piglets: a new experimentation model to study the perinatal hypoxic-ischemic damage on the auditory system.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco Jose Alvarez

    Full Text Available Hypoxia-ischemia (HI is a major perinatal problem that results in severe damage to the brain impairing the normal development of the auditory system. The purpose of the present study is to study the effect of perinatal asphyxia on the auditory pathway by recording auditory brain responses in a novel animal experimentation model in newborn piglets.Hypoxia-ischemia was induced to 1.3 day-old piglets by clamping 30 minutes both carotid arteries by vascular occluders and lowering the fraction of inspired oxygen. We compared the Auditory Brain Responses (ABRs of newborn piglets exposed to acute hypoxia/ischemia (n = 6 and a control group with no such exposure (n = 10. ABRs were recorded for both ears before the start of the experiment (baseline, after 30 minutes of HI injury, and every 30 minutes during 6 h after the HI injury.Auditory brain responses were altered during the hypoxic-ischemic insult but recovered 30-60 minutes later. Hypoxia/ischemia seemed to induce auditory functional damage by increasing I-V latencies and decreasing wave I, III and V amplitudes, although differences were not significant.The described experimental model of hypoxia-ischemia in newborn piglets may be useful for studying the effect of perinatal asphyxia on the impairment of the auditory pathway.

  1. Auditory short-term memory activation during score reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simoens, Veerle L; Tervaniemi, Mari

    2013-01-01

    Performing music on the basis of reading a score requires reading ahead of what is being played in order to anticipate the necessary actions to produce the notes. Score reading thus not only involves the decoding of a visual score and the comparison to the auditory feedback, but also short-term storage of the musical information due to the delay of the auditory feedback during reading ahead. This study investigates the mechanisms of encoding of musical information in short-term memory during such a complicated procedure. There were three parts in this study. First, professional musicians participated in an electroencephalographic (EEG) experiment to study the slow wave potentials during a time interval of short-term memory storage in a situation that requires cross-modal translation and short-term storage of visual material to be compared with delayed auditory material, as it is the case in music score reading. This delayed visual-to-auditory matching task was compared with delayed visual-visual and auditory-auditory matching tasks in terms of EEG topography and voltage amplitudes. Second, an additional behavioural experiment was performed to determine which type of distractor would be the most interfering with the score reading-like task. Third, the self-reported strategies of the participants were also analyzed. All three parts of this study point towards the same conclusion according to which during music score reading, the musician most likely first translates the visual score into an auditory cue, probably starting around 700 or 1300 ms, ready for storage and delayed comparison with the auditory feedback.

  2. Is the auditory sensory memory sensitive to visual information?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Besle, Julien; Fort, Alexandra; Giard, Marie-Hélène

    2005-10-01

    The mismatch negativity (MMN) component of auditory event-related brain potentials can be used as a probe to study the representation of sounds in auditory sensory memory (ASM). Yet it has been shown that an auditory MMN can also be elicited by an illusory auditory deviance induced by visual changes. This suggests that some visual information may be encoded in ASM and is accessible to the auditory MMN process. It is not known, however, whether visual information affects ASM representation for any audiovisual event or whether this phenomenon is limited to specific domains in which strong audiovisual illusions occur. To highlight this issue, we have compared the topographies of MMNs elicited by non-speech audiovisual stimuli deviating from audiovisual standards on the visual, the auditory, or both dimensions. Contrary to what occurs with audiovisual illusions, each unimodal deviant elicited sensory-specific MMNs, and the MMN to audiovisual deviants included both sensory components. The visual MMN was, however, different from a genuine visual MMN obtained in a visual-only control oddball paradigm, suggesting that auditory and visual information interacts before the MMN process occurs. Furthermore, the MMN to audiovisual deviants was significantly different from the sum of the two sensory-specific MMNs, showing that the processes of visual and auditory change detection are not completely independent.

  3. Biological impact of music and software-based auditory training

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kraus, Nina

    2012-01-01

    Auditory-based communication skills are developed at a young age and are maintained throughout our lives. However, some individuals – both young and old – encounter difficulties in achieving or maintaining communication proficiency. Biological signals arising from hearing sounds relate to real-life communication skills such as listening to speech in noisy environments and reading, pointing to an intersection between hearing and cognition. Musical experience, amplification, and software-based training can improve these biological signals. These findings of biological plasticity, in a variety of subject populations, relate to attention and auditory memory, and represent an integrated auditory system influenced by both sensation and cognition. Learning outcomes The reader will (1) understand that the auditory system is malleable to experience and training, (2) learn the ingredients necessary for auditory learning to successfully be applied to communication, (3) learn that the auditory brainstem response to complex sounds (cABR) is a window into the integrated auditory system, and (4) see examples of how cABR can be used to track the outcome of experience and training. PMID:22789822

  4. Visual form predictions facilitate auditory processing at the N1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paris, Tim; Kim, Jeesun; Davis, Chris

    2017-02-20

    Auditory-visual (AV) events often involve a leading visual cue (e.g. auditory-visual speech) that allows the perceiver to generate predictions about the upcoming auditory event. Electrophysiological evidence suggests that when an auditory event is predicted, processing is sped up, i.e., the N1 component of the ERP occurs earlier (N1 facilitation). However, it is not clear (1) whether N1 facilitation is based specifically on predictive rather than multisensory integration and (2) which particular properties of the visual cue it is based on. The current experiment used artificial AV stimuli in which visual cues predicted but did not co-occur with auditory cues. Visual form cues (high and low salience) and the auditory-visual pairing were manipulated so that auditory predictions could be based on form and timing or on timing only. The results showed that N1 facilitation occurred only for combined form and temporal predictions. These results suggest that faster auditory processing (as indicated by N1 facilitation) is based on predictive processing generated by a visual cue that clearly predicts both what and when the auditory stimulus will occur. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  5. Do focal colors look particularly "colorful"?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Witzel, Christoph; Franklin, Anna

    2014-04-01

    If the most typical red, yellow, green, and blue were particularly colorful (i.e., saturated), they would "jump out to the eye." This would explain why even fundamentally different languages have distinct color terms for these focal colors, and why unique hues play a prominent role in subjective color appearance. In this study, the subjective saturation of 10 colors around each of these focal colors was measured through a pairwise matching task. Results show that subjective saturation changes systematically across hues in a way that is strongly correlated to the visual gamut, and exponentially related to sensitivity but not to focal colors.

  6. Temporal expectation weights visual signals over auditory signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Menceloglu, Melisa; Grabowecky, Marcia; Suzuki, Satoru

    2017-04-01

    Temporal expectation is a process by which people use temporally structured sensory information to explicitly or implicitly predict the onset and/or the duration of future events. Because timing plays a critical role in crossmodal interactions, we investigated how temporal expectation influenced auditory-visual interaction, using an auditory-visual crossmodal congruity effect as a measure of crossmodal interaction. For auditory identification, an incongruent visual stimulus produced stronger interference when the crossmodal stimulus was presented with an expected rather than an unexpected timing. In contrast, for visual identification, an incongruent auditory stimulus produced weaker interference when the crossmodal stimulus was presented with an expected rather than an unexpected timing. The fact that temporal expectation made visual distractors more potent and visual targets less susceptible to auditory interference suggests that temporal expectation increases the perceptual weight of visual signals.

  7. Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potential in HIV-Positive Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matas, Carla Gentile; Samelli, Alessandra Giannella; Angrisani, Rosanna Giaffredo; Magliaro, Fernanda Cristina Leite; Segurado, Aluísio C

    2015-10-20

    To characterize the findings of brainstem auditory evoked potential in HIV-positive individuals exposed and not exposed to antiretroviral treatment. This research was a cross-sectional, observational, and descriptive study. Forty-five HIV-positive individuals (18 not exposed and 27 exposed to the antiretroviral treatment - research groups I and II, respectively - and 30 control group individuals) were assessed through brainstem auditory evoked potential. There were no significant between-group differences regarding wave latencies. A higher percentage of altered brainstem auditory evoked potential was observed in the HIV-positive groups when compared to the control group. The most common alteration was in the low brainstem. HIV-positive individuals have a higher percentage of altered brainstem auditory evoked potential that suggests central auditory pathway impairment when compared to HIV-negative individuals. There was no significant difference between individuals exposed and not exposed to antiretroviral treatment.

  8. Using color management in color document processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nehab, Smadar

    1995-04-01

    Color Management Systems have been used for several years in Desktop Publishing (DTP) environments. While this development hasn't matured yet, we are already experiencing the next generation of the color imaging revolution-Device Independent Color for the small office/home office (SOHO) environment. Though there are still open technical issues with device independent color matching, they are not the focal point of this paper. This paper discusses two new and crucial aspects in using color management in color document processing: the management of color objects and their associated color rendering methods; a proposal for a precedence order and handshaking protocol among the various software components involved in color document processing. As color peripherals become affordable to the SOHO market, color management also becomes a prerequisite for common document authoring applications such as word processors. The first color management solutions were oriented towards DTP environments whose requirements were largely different. For example, DTP documents are image-centric, as opposed to SOHO documents that are text and charts centric. To achieve optimal reproduction on low-cost SOHO peripherals, it is critical that different color rendering methods are used for the different document object types. The first challenge in using color management of color document processing is the association of rendering methods with object types. As a result of an evolutionary process, color matching solutions are now available as application software, as driver embedded software and as operating system extensions. Consequently, document processing faces a new challenge, the correct selection of the color matching solution while avoiding duplicate color corrections.

  9. Effects of sequential streaming on auditory masking using psychoacoustics and auditory evoked potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verhey, Jesko L; Ernst, Stephan M A; Yasin, Ifat

    2012-03-01

    The present study was aimed at investigating the relationship between the mismatch negativity (MMN) and psychoacoustical effects of sequential streaming on comodulation masking release (CMR). The influence of sequential streaming on CMR was investigated using a psychoacoustical alternative forced-choice procedure and electroencephalography (EEG) for the same group of subjects. The psychoacoustical data showed, that adding precursors comprising of only off-signal-frequency maskers abolished the CMR. Complementary EEG data showed an MMN irrespective of the masker envelope correlation across frequency when only the off-signal-frequency masker components were present. The addition of such precursors promotes a separation of the on- and off-frequency masker components into distinct auditory objects preventing the auditory system from using comodulation as an additional cue. A frequency-specific adaptation changing the representation of the flanking bands in the streaming conditions may also contribute to the reduction of CMR in the stream conditions, however, it is unlikely that adaptation is the primary reason for the streaming effect. A neurophysiological correlate of sequential streaming was found in EEG data using MMN, but the magnitude of the MMN was not correlated with the audibility of the signal in CMR experiments. Dipole source analysis indicated different cortical regions involved in processing auditory streaming and modulation detection. In particular, neural sources for processing auditory streaming include cortical regions involved in decision-making. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Constance Gunderson, Human Trafficking: The Trafficking of Women in Northern Germany for the Purpose of Sexual Exploitation. Systematic Overview of Community Based Responses and Challenges (Bremen: Lit Verlag, 2012

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Markus Meckl

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available A review of the following book: Constance Gunderson, Human Trafficking: The Trafficking of Women in Northern Germany for the Purpose of Sexual Exploitation. Systematic Overview of Community based responses and challenges (Bremen: Lit Verlag, Bremen 2012

  11. Effect of omega-3 on auditory system

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    Vida Rahimi

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background and Aim: Omega-3 fatty acid have structural and biological roles in the body 's various systems . Numerous studies have tried to research about it. Auditory system is affected a s well. The aim of this article was to review the researches about the effect of omega-3 on auditory system.Methods: We searched Medline , Google Scholar, PubMed, Cochrane Library and SID search engines with the "auditory" and "omega-3" keywords and read textbooks about this subject between 19 70 and 20 13.Conclusion: Both excess and deficient amounts of dietary omega-3 fatty acid can cause harmful effects on fetal and infant growth and development of brain and central nervous system esspesially auditory system. It is important to determine the adequate dosage of omega-3.

  12. Shaping the aging brain: Role of auditory input patterns in the emergence of auditory cortical impairments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brishna Soraya Kamal

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Age-related impairments in the primary auditory cortex (A1 include poor tuning selectivity, neural desynchronization and degraded responses to low-probability sounds. These changes have been largely attributed to reduced inhibition in the aged brain, and are thought to contribute to substantial hearing impairment in both humans and animals. Since many of these changes can be partially reversed with auditory training, it has been speculated that they might not be purely degenerative, but might rather represent negative plastic adjustments to noisy or distorted auditory signals reaching the brain. To test this hypothesis, we examined the impact of exposing young adult rats to 8 weeks of low-grade broadband noise on several aspects of A1 function and structure. We then characterized the same A1 elements in aging rats for comparison. We found that the impact of noise exposure on A1 tuning selectivity, temporal processing of auditory signal and responses to oddball tones was almost indistinguishable from the effect of natural aging. Moreover, noise exposure resulted in a reduction in the population of parvalbumin inhibitory interneurons and cortical myelin as previously documented in the aged group. Most of these changes reversed after returning the rats to a quiet environment. These results support the hypothesis that age-related changes in A1 have a strong activity-dependent component and indicate that the presence or absence of clear auditory input patterns might be a key factor in sustaining adult A1 function.

  13. Facilitated auditory detection for speech sounds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carine eSignoret

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available If it is well known that knowledge facilitates higher cognitive functions, such as visual and auditory word recognition, little is known about the influence of knowledge on detection, particularly in the auditory modality. Our study tested the influence of phonological and lexical knowledge on auditory detection. Words, pseudo words and complex non phonological sounds, energetically matched as closely as possible, were presented at a range of presentation levels from sub threshold to clearly audible. The participants performed a detection task (Experiments 1 and 2 that was followed by a two alternative forced choice recognition task in Experiment 2. The results of this second task in Experiment 2 suggest a correct recognition of words in the absence of detection with a subjective threshold approach. In the detection task of both experiments, phonological stimuli (words and pseudo words were better detected than non phonological stimuli (complex sounds, presented close to the auditory threshold. This finding suggests an advantage of speech for signal detection. An additional advantage of words over pseudo words was observed in Experiment 2, suggesting that lexical knowledge could also improve auditory detection when listeners had to recognize the stimulus in a subsequent task. Two simulations of detection performance performed on the sound signals confirmed that the advantage of speech over non speech processing could not be attributed to energetic differences in the stimuli.

  14. Musical experience, auditory perception and reading-related skills in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banai, Karen; Ahissar, Merav

    2013-01-01

    The relationships between auditory processing and reading-related skills remain poorly understood despite intensive research. Here we focus on the potential role of musical experience as a confounding factor. Specifically we ask whether the pattern of correlations between auditory and reading related skills differ between children with different amounts of musical experience. Third grade children with various degrees of musical experience were tested on a battery of auditory processing and reading related tasks. Very poor auditory thresholds and poor memory skills were abundant only among children with no musical education. In this population, indices of auditory processing (frequency and interval discrimination thresholds) were significantly correlated with and accounted for up to 13% of the variance in reading related skills. Among children with more than one year of musical training, auditory processing indices were better, yet reading related skills were not correlated with them. A potential interpretation for the reduction in the correlations might be that auditory and reading-related skills improve at different rates as a function of musical training. Participants' previous musical training, which is typically ignored in studies assessing the relations between auditory and reading related skills, should be considered. Very poor auditory and memory skills are rare among children with even a short period of musical training, suggesting musical training could have an impact on both. The lack of correlation in the musically trained population suggests that a short period of musical training does not enhance reading related skills of individuals with within-normal auditory processing skills. Further studies are required to determine whether the associations between musical training, auditory processing and memory are indeed causal or whether children with poor auditory and memory skills are less likely to study music and if so, why this is the case.

  15. Musical experience, auditory perception and reading-related skills in children.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karen Banai

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The relationships between auditory processing and reading-related skills remain poorly understood despite intensive research. Here we focus on the potential role of musical experience as a confounding factor. Specifically we ask whether the pattern of correlations between auditory and reading related skills differ between children with different amounts of musical experience. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Third grade children with various degrees of musical experience were tested on a battery of auditory processing and reading related tasks. Very poor auditory thresholds and poor memory skills were abundant only among children with no musical education. In this population, indices of auditory processing (frequency and interval discrimination thresholds were significantly correlated with and accounted for up to 13% of the variance in reading related skills. Among children with more than one year of musical training, auditory processing indices were better, yet reading related skills were not correlated with them. A potential interpretation for the reduction in the correlations might be that auditory and reading-related skills improve at different rates as a function of musical training. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Participants' previous musical training, which is typically ignored in studies assessing the relations between auditory and reading related skills, should be considered. Very poor auditory and memory skills are rare among children with even a short period of musical training, suggesting musical training could have an impact on both. The lack of correlation in the musically trained population suggests that a short period of musical training does not enhance reading related skills of individuals with within-normal auditory processing skills. Further studies are required to determine whether the associations between musical training, auditory processing and memory are indeed causal or whether children with poor auditory and

  16. Formation of brominated trihalomethanes in chlorinated drinking-water from Lake Constance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Petri, M.; Stabel, H.H.

    1994-01-01

    The formation of trihalomethanes (THMs) in raw water and drinking water from Lake Constance containing low amounts of DOC and bromide was studied with special emphasis on brominated trihalomethanes (Br-THMs). If the raw water was ozonated prior to chlorination, the formation of THMs was reduced by 37%, and if a rapid sandfiltration was interposed, the THM-formation was again slightly enhanced. The percentage of Br-THMs on total-THMs increased from 16% to 35% during the treatment process. In the drinking water distribution system of BWV the formation of Br-THMs and CHCl 3 was studied with respect to residence time and post-chlorination. Unless the post-chlorination was performed, the THM-formation in the distribution system resembled that obtained from laboratory studies, except for small amounts of THMs being purged due to transport in the mains and residence in the reservoirs. Post-chlorination increased CHCl 3 - and the CHBrCl 2 -formation, but there was no effect on the formation of CHBr 2 Cl and CHBr 3 . However, the total THM-concentration in the drinking water never exceeded the German drinking water standard of 10 μg/L. (orig.) [de

  17. Automatic color preference correction for color reproduction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsukada, Masato; Funayama, Chisato; Tajima, Johji

    2000-12-01

    The reproduction of natural objects in color images has attracted a great deal of attention. Reproduction more pleasing colors of natural objects is one of the methods available to improve image quality. We developed an automatic color correction method to maintain preferred color reproduction for three significant categories: facial skin color, green grass and blue sky. In this method, a representative color in an object area to be corrected is automatically extracted from an input image, and a set of color correction parameters is selected depending on the representative color. The improvement in image quality for reproductions of natural image was more than 93 percent in subjective experiments. These results show the usefulness of our automatic color correction method for the reproduction of preferred colors.

  18. Tinnitus intensity dependent gamma oscillations of the contralateral auditory cortex.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elsa van der Loo

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Non-pulsatile tinnitus is considered a subjective auditory phantom phenomenon present in 10 to 15% of the population. Tinnitus as a phantom phenomenon is related to hyperactivity and reorganization of the auditory cortex. Magnetoencephalography studies demonstrate a correlation between gamma band activity in the contralateral auditory cortex and the presence of tinnitus. The present study aims to investigate the relation between objective gamma-band activity in the contralateral auditory cortex and subjective tinnitus loudness scores. METHODS AND FINDINGS: In unilateral tinnitus patients (N = 15; 10 right, 5 left source analysis of resting state electroencephalographic gamma band oscillations shows a strong positive correlation with Visual Analogue Scale loudness scores in the contralateral auditory cortex (max r = 0.73, p<0.05. CONCLUSION: Auditory phantom percepts thus show similar sound level dependent activation of the contralateral auditory cortex as observed in normal audition. In view of recent consciousness models and tinnitus network models these results suggest tinnitus loudness is coded by gamma band activity in the contralateral auditory cortex but might not, by itself, be responsible for tinnitus perception.

  19. Music lessons improve auditory perceptual and cognitive performance in deaf children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rochette, Françoise; Moussard, Aline; Bigand, Emmanuel

    2014-01-01

    Despite advanced technologies in auditory rehabilitation of profound deafness, deaf children often exhibit delayed cognitive and linguistic development and auditory training remains a crucial element of their education. In the present cross-sectional study, we assess whether music would be a relevant tool for deaf children rehabilitation. In normal-hearing children, music lessons have been shown to improve cognitive and linguistic-related abilities, such as phonetic discrimination and reading. We compared auditory perception, auditory cognition, and phonetic discrimination between 14 profoundly deaf children who completed weekly music lessons for a period of 1.5-4 years and 14 deaf children who did not receive musical instruction. Children were assessed on perceptual and cognitive auditory tasks using environmental sounds: discrimination, identification, auditory scene analysis, auditory working memory. Transfer to the linguistic domain was tested with a phonetic discrimination task. Musically trained children showed better performance in auditory scene analysis, auditory working memory and phonetic discrimination tasks, and multiple regressions showed that success on these tasks was at least partly driven by music lessons. We propose that musical education contributes to development of general processes such as auditory attention and perception, which, in turn, facilitate auditory-related cognitive and linguistic processes.

  20. Music lessons improve auditory perceptual and cognitive performance in deaf children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Françoise eROCHETTE

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Despite advanced technologies in auditory rehabilitation of profound deafness, deaf children often exhibit delayed cognitive and linguistic development and auditory training remains a crucial element of their education. In the present cross-sectional study, we assess whether music would be a relevant tool for deaf children rehabilitation. In normal-hearing children, music lessons have been shown to improve cognitive and linguistic-related abilities, such as phonetic discrimination and reading. We compared auditory perception, auditory cognition, and phonetic discrimination between 14 profoundly deaf children who completed weekly music lessons for a period of 1.5 to 4 years and 14 deaf children who did not receive musical instruction. Children were assessed on perceptual and cognitive auditory tasks using environmental sounds: discrimination, identification, auditory scene analysis, auditory working memory. Transfer to the linguistic domain was tested with a phonetic discrimination task. Musically-trained children showed better performance in auditory scene analysis, auditory working memory and phonetic discrimination tasks, and multiple regressions showed that success on these tasks was at least partly driven by music lessons. We propose that musical education contributes to development of general processes such as auditory attention and perception, which, in turn, facilitate auditory-related cognitive and linguistic processes.

  1. Organization of the auditory brainstem in a lizard, Gekko gecko. I. Auditory nerve, cochlear nuclei, and superior olivary nuclei

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tang, Y. Z.; Christensen-Dalsgaard, J.; Carr, C. E.

    2012-01-01

    We used tract tracing to reveal the connections of the auditory brainstem in the Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko). The auditory nerve has two divisions, a rostroventrally directed projection of mid- to high best-frequency fibers to the nucleus angularis (NA) and a more dorsal and caudal projection of lo...... of auditory connections in lizards and archosaurs but also different processing of low- and high-frequency information in the brainstem. J. Comp. Neurol. 520:17841799, 2012. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc...

  2. Auditory Hallucinations in Acute Stroke

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yair Lampl

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available Auditory hallucinations are uncommon phenomena which can be directly caused by acute stroke, mostly described after lesions of the brain stem, very rarely reported after cortical strokes. The purpose of this study is to determine the frequency of this phenomenon. In a cross sectional study, 641 stroke patients were followed in the period between 1996–2000. Each patient underwent comprehensive investigation and follow-up. Four patients were found to have post cortical stroke auditory hallucinations. All of them occurred after an ischemic lesion of the right temporal lobe. After no more than four months, all patients were symptom-free and without therapy. The fact the auditory hallucinations may be of cortical origin must be taken into consideration in the treatment of stroke patients. The phenomenon may be completely reversible after a couple of months.

  3. Attention, awareness, and the perception of auditory scenes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joel S Snyder

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available Auditory perception and cognition entails both low-level and high-level processes, which are likely to interact with each other to create our rich conscious experience of soundscapes. Recent research that we review has revealed numerous influences of high-level factors, such as attention, intention, and prior experience, on conscious auditory perception. And recently, studies have shown that auditory scene analysis tasks can exhibit multistability in a manner very similar to ambiguous visual stimuli, presenting a unique opportunity to study neural correlates of auditory awareness and the extent to which mechanisms of perception are shared across sensory modalities. Research has also led to a growing number of techniques through which auditory perception can be manipulated and even completely suppressed. Such findings have important consequences for our understanding of the mechanisms of perception and also should allow scientists to precisely distinguish the influences of different higher-level influences.

  4. Embedding Color Watermarks in Color Images

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wu Tung-Lin

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available Robust watermarking with oblivious detection is essential to practical copyright protection of digital images. Effective exploitation of the characteristics of human visual perception to color stimuli helps to develop the watermarking scheme that fills the requirement. In this paper, an oblivious watermarking scheme that embeds color watermarks in color images is proposed. Through color gamut analysis and quantizer design, color watermarks are embedded by modifying quantization indices of color pixels without resulting in perceivable distortion. Only a small amount of information including the specification of color gamut, quantizer stepsize, and color tables is required to extract the watermark. Experimental results show that the proposed watermarking scheme is computationally simple and quite robust in face of various attacks such as cropping, low-pass filtering, white-noise addition, scaling, and JPEG compression with high compression ratios.

  5. A deafening flash! Visual interference of auditory signal detection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fassnidge, Christopher; Cecconi Marcotti, Claudia; Freeman, Elliot

    2017-03-01

    In some people, visual stimulation evokes auditory sensations. How prevalent and how perceptually real is this? 22% of our neurotypical adult participants responded 'Yes' when asked whether they heard faint sounds accompanying flash stimuli, and showed significantly better ability to discriminate visual 'Morse-code' sequences. This benefit might arise from an ability to recode visual signals as sounds, thus taking advantage of superior temporal acuity of audition. In support of this, those who showed better visual relative to auditory sequence discrimination also had poorer auditory detection in the presence of uninformative visual flashes, though this was independent of awareness of visually-evoked sounds. Thus a visually-evoked auditory representation may occur subliminally and disrupt detection of real auditory signals. The frequent natural correlation between visual and auditory stimuli might explain the surprising prevalence of this phenomenon. Overall, our results suggest that learned correspondences between strongly correlated modalities may provide a precursor for some synaesthetic abilities. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. A Neural Circuit for Auditory Dominance over Visual Perception.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, You-Hyang; Kim, Jae-Hyun; Jeong, Hye-Won; Choi, Ilsong; Jeong, Daun; Kim, Kwansoo; Lee, Seung-Hee

    2017-02-22

    When conflicts occur during integration of visual and auditory information, one modality often dominates the other, but the underlying neural circuit mechanism remains unclear. Using auditory-visual discrimination tasks for head-fixed mice, we found that audition dominates vision in a process mediated by interaction between inputs from the primary visual (VC) and auditory (AC) cortices in the posterior parietal cortex (PTLp). Co-activation of the VC and AC suppresses VC-induced PTLp responses, leaving AC-induced responses. Furthermore, parvalbumin-positive (PV+) interneurons in the PTLp mainly receive AC inputs, and muscimol inactivation of the PTLp or optogenetic inhibition of its PV+ neurons abolishes auditory dominance in the resolution of cross-modal sensory conflicts without affecting either sensory perception. Conversely, optogenetic activation of PV+ neurons in the PTLp enhances the auditory dominance. Thus, our results demonstrate that AC input-specific feedforward inhibition of VC inputs in the PTLp is responsible for the auditory dominance during cross-modal integration. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Absence of auditory 'global interference' in autism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foxton, Jessica M; Stewart, Mary E; Barnard, Louise; Rodgers, Jacqui; Young, Allan H; O'Brien, Gregory; Griffiths, Timothy D

    2003-12-01

    There has been considerable recent interest in the cognitive style of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). One theory, that of weak central coherence, concerns an inability to combine stimulus details into a coherent whole. Here we test this theory in the case of sound patterns, using a new definition of the details (local structure) and the coherent whole (global structure). Thirteen individuals with a diagnosis of autism or Asperger's syndrome and 15 control participants were administered auditory tests, where they were required to match local pitch direction changes between two auditory sequences. When the other local features of the sequence pairs were altered (the actual pitches and relative time points of pitch direction change), the control participants obtained lower scores compared with when these details were left unchanged. This can be attributed to interference from the global structure, defined as the combination of the local auditory details. In contrast, the participants with ASD did not obtain lower scores in the presence of such mismatches. This was attributed to the absence of interference from an auditory coherent whole. The results are consistent with the presence of abnormal interactions between local and global auditory perception in ASD.

  8. Functional sex differences in human primary auditory cortex

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ruytjens, Liesbet; Georgiadis, Janniko R.; Holstege, Gert; Wit, Hero P.; Albers, Frans W.J.; Willemsen, Antoon T.M.

    2007-01-01

    We used PET to study cortical activation during auditory stimulation and found sex differences in the human primary auditory cortex (PAC). Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured in 10 male and 10 female volunteers while listening to sounds (music or white noise) and during a baseline (no auditory stimulation). We found a sex difference in activation of the left and right PAC when comparing music to noise. The PAC was more activated by music than by noise in both men and women. But this difference between the two stimuli was significantly higher in men than in women. To investigate whether this difference could be attributed to either music or noise, we compared both stimuli with the baseline and revealed that noise gave a significantly higher activation in the female PAC than in the male PAC. Moreover, the male group showed a deactivation in the right prefrontal cortex when comparing noise to the baseline, which was not present in the female group. Interestingly, the auditory and prefrontal regions are anatomically and functionally linked and the prefrontal cortex is known to be engaged in auditory tasks that involve sustained or selective auditory attention. Thus we hypothesize that differences in attention result in a different deactivation of the right prefrontal cortex, which in turn modulates the activation of the PAC and thus explains the sex differences found in the activation of the PAC. Our results suggest that sex is an important factor in auditory brain studies. (orig.)

  9. Functional sex differences in human primary auditory cortex

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ruytjens, Liesbet [University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Groningen (Netherlands); University Medical Center Utrecht, Department Otorhinolaryngology, P.O. Box 85500, Utrecht (Netherlands); Georgiadis, Janniko R. [University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Groningen (Netherlands); Holstege, Gert [University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Center for Uroneurology, Groningen (Netherlands); Wit, Hero P. [University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Groningen (Netherlands); Albers, Frans W.J. [University Medical Center Utrecht, Department Otorhinolaryngology, P.O. Box 85500, Utrecht (Netherlands); Willemsen, Antoon T.M. [University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Groningen (Netherlands)

    2007-12-15

    We used PET to study cortical activation during auditory stimulation and found sex differences in the human primary auditory cortex (PAC). Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured in 10 male and 10 female volunteers while listening to sounds (music or white noise) and during a baseline (no auditory stimulation). We found a sex difference in activation of the left and right PAC when comparing music to noise. The PAC was more activated by music than by noise in both men and women. But this difference between the two stimuli was significantly higher in men than in women. To investigate whether this difference could be attributed to either music or noise, we compared both stimuli with the baseline and revealed that noise gave a significantly higher activation in the female PAC than in the male PAC. Moreover, the male group showed a deactivation in the right prefrontal cortex when comparing noise to the baseline, which was not present in the female group. Interestingly, the auditory and prefrontal regions are anatomically and functionally linked and the prefrontal cortex is known to be engaged in auditory tasks that involve sustained or selective auditory attention. Thus we hypothesize that differences in attention result in a different deactivation of the right prefrontal cortex, which in turn modulates the activation of the PAC and thus explains the sex differences found in the activation of the PAC. Our results suggest that sex is an important factor in auditory brain studies. (orig.)

  10. An extended research of crossmodal correspondence between color and sound in psychology and cognitive ergonomics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Xiuwen; Li, Xiaoling; Ji, Lingyu; Han, Feng; Wang, Huifen; Liu, Yang; Chen, Yao; Lou, Zhiyuan; Li, Zhuoyun

    2018-01-01

    Based on the existing research on sound symbolism and crossmodal correspondence, this study proposed an extended research on cross-modal correspondence between various sound attributes and color properties in a group of non-synesthetes. In Experiment 1, we assessed the associations between each property of sounds and colors. Twenty sounds with five auditory properties (pitch, roughness, sharpness, tempo and discontinuity), each varied in four levels, were used as the sound stimuli. Forty-nine colors with different hues, saturation and brightness were used to match to those sounds. Result revealed that besides pitch and tempo, roughness and sharpness also played roles in sound-color correspondence. Reaction times of sound-hue were a little longer than the reaction times of sound-lightness. In Experiment 2, a speeded target discrimination task was used to assess whether the associations between sound attributes and color properties could invoke natural cross-modal correspondence and improve participants' cognitive efficiency in cognitive tasks. Several typical sound-color pairings were selected according to the results of Experiment 1. Participants were divided into two groups (congruent and incongruent). In each trial participants had to judge whether the presented color could appropriately be associated with the sound stimuli. Result revealed that participants responded more quickly and accurately in the congruent group than in the incongruent group. It was also found that there was no significant difference in reaction times and error rates between sound-hue and sound-lightness. The results of Experiment 1 and 2 indicate the existence of a robust crossmodal correspondence between multiple attributes of sound and color, which also has strong influence on cognitive tasks. The inconsistency of the reaction times between sound-hue and sound-lightness in Experiment 1 and 2 is probably owing to the difference in experimental protocol, which indicates that the complexity

  11. Color evaluation of computer-generated color rainbow holography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shi, Yile; Wang, Hui; Wu, Qiong

    2013-01-01

    A color evaluation approach for computer-generated color rainbow holography (CGCRH) is presented. Firstly, the relationship between color quantities of a computer display and a color computer-generated holography (CCGH) colorimetric system is discussed based on color matching theory. An isochromatic transfer relationship of color quantity and amplitude of object light field is proposed. Secondly, the color reproduction mechanism and factors leading to the color difference between the color object and the holographic image that is reconstructed by CGCRH are analyzed in detail. A quantitative color calculation method for the holographic image reconstructed by CGCRH is given. Finally, general color samples are selected as numerical calculation test targets and the color differences between holographic images and test targets are calculated based on our proposed method. (paper)

  12. Sensory Drive, Color, and Color Vision.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Price, Trevor D

    2017-08-01

    Colors often appear to differ in arbitrary ways among related species. However, a fraction of color diversity may be explained because some signals are more easily perceived in one environment rather than another. Models show that not only signals but also the perception of signals should regularly evolve in response to different environments, whether these primarily involve detection of conspecifics or detection of predators and prey. Thus, a deeper understanding of how perception of color correlates with environmental attributes should help generate more predictive models of color divergence. Here, I briefly review our understanding of color vision in vertebrates. Then I focus on opsin spectral tuning and opsin expression, two traits involved in color perception that have become amenable to study. I ask how opsin tuning is correlated with ecological differences, notably the light environment, and how this potentially affects perception of conspecific colors. Although opsin tuning appears to evolve slowly, opsin expression levels are more evolutionarily labile but have been difficult to connect to color perception. The challenge going forward will be to identify how physiological differences involved in color vision, such as opsin expression levels, translate into perceptual differences, the selection pressures that have driven those differences, and ultimately how this may drive evolution of conspecific colors.

  13. Auditory and visual spatial impression: Recent studies of three auditoria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguyen, Andy; Cabrera, Densil

    2004-10-01

    Auditory spatial impression is widely studied for its contribution to auditorium acoustical quality. By contrast, visual spatial impression in auditoria has received relatively little attention in formal studies. This paper reports results from a series of experiments investigating the auditory and visual spatial impression of concert auditoria. For auditory stimuli, a fragment of an anechoic recording of orchestral music was convolved with calibrated binaural impulse responses, which had been made with the dummy head microphone at a wide range of positions in three auditoria and the sound source on the stage. For visual stimuli, greyscale photographs were used, taken at the same positions in the three auditoria, with a visual target on the stage. Subjective experiments were conducted with auditory stimuli alone, visual stimuli alone, and visual and auditory stimuli combined. In these experiments, subjects rated apparent source width, listener envelopment, intimacy and source distance (auditory stimuli), and spaciousness, envelopment, stage dominance, intimacy and target distance (visual stimuli). Results show target distance to be of primary importance in auditory and visual spatial impression-thereby providing a basis for covariance between some attributes of auditory and visual spatial impression. Nevertheless, some attributes of spatial impression diverge between the senses.

  14. Auditory Masking Effects on Speech Fluency in Apraxia of Speech and Aphasia: Comparison to Altered Auditory Feedback

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacks, Adam; Haley, Katarina L.

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: To study the effects of masked auditory feedback (MAF) on speech fluency in adults with aphasia and/or apraxia of speech (APH/AOS). We hypothesized that adults with AOS would increase speech fluency when speaking with noise. Altered auditory feedback (AAF; i.e., delayed/frequency-shifted feedback) was included as a control condition not…

  15. Color planner for designers based on color emotions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Ka-Man; Xin, John H.; Taylor, Gail

    2002-06-01

    During the color perception process, an associated feeling or emotion is induced in our brains, and this kind of emotion is termed as 'color emotion.' The researchers in the field of color emotions have put many efforts in quantifying color emotions with the standard color specifications and evaluating the influence of hue, lightness and chroma to the color emotions of human beings. In this study, a color planner was derived according to these findings so that the correlation of color emotions and standard color specifications was clearly indicated. Since people of different nationalities usually have different color emotions as different cultural and traditional backgrounds, the subjects in this study were all native Hong Kong Chinese and the color emotion words were all written in Chinese language in the visual assessments. Through the color planner, the designers from different areas, no matter fashion, graphic, interior or web site etc., can select suitable colors for inducing target color emotions to the customers or product-users since different colors convey different meanings to them. In addition, the designers can enhance the functionality and increase the attractiveness of their designed products by selecting suitable colors.

  16. Rapid estimation of high-parameter auditory-filter shapes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Yi; Sivakumar, Rajeswari; Richards, Virginia M.

    2014-01-01

    A Bayesian adaptive procedure, the quick-auditory-filter (qAF) procedure, was used to estimate auditory-filter shapes that were asymmetric about their peaks. In three experiments, listeners who were naive to psychoacoustic experiments detected a fixed-level, pure-tone target presented with a spectrally notched noise masker. The qAF procedure adaptively manipulated the masker spectrum level and the position of the masker notch, which was optimized for the efficient estimation of the five parameters of an auditory-filter model. Experiment I demonstrated that the qAF procedure provided a convergent estimate of the auditory-filter shape at 2 kHz within 150 to 200 trials (approximately 15 min to complete) and, for a majority of listeners, excellent test-retest reliability. In experiment II, asymmetric auditory filters were estimated for target frequencies of 1 and 4 kHz and target levels of 30 and 50 dB sound pressure level. The estimated filter shapes were generally consistent with published norms, especially at the low target level. It is known that the auditory-filter estimates are narrower for forward masking than simultaneous masking due to peripheral suppression, a result replicated in experiment III using fewer than 200 qAF trials. PMID:25324086

  17. Opposite brain laterality in analogous auditory and visual tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oltedal, Leif; Hugdahl, Kenneth

    2017-11-01

    Laterality for language processing can be assessed by auditory and visual tasks. Typically, a right ear/right visual half-field (VHF) advantage is observed, reflecting left-hemispheric lateralization for language. Historically, auditory tasks have shown more consistent and reliable results when compared to VHF tasks. While few studies have compared analogous tasks applied to both sensory modalities for the same participants, one such study by Voyer and Boudreau [(2003). Cross-modal correlation of auditory and visual language laterality tasks: a serendipitous finding. Brain Cogn, 53(2), 393-397] found opposite laterality for visual and auditory language tasks. We adapted an experimental paradigm based on a dichotic listening and VHF approach, and applied the combined language paradigm in two separate experiments, including fMRI in the second experiment to measure brain activation in addition to behavioural data. The first experiment showed a right-ear advantage for the auditory task, but a left half-field advantage for the visual task. The second experiment, confirmed the findings, with opposite laterality effects for the visual and auditory tasks. In conclusion, we replicate the finding by Voyer and Boudreau (2003) and support their interpretation that these visual and auditory language tasks measure different cognitive processes.

  18. Subcortical pathways: Towards a better understanding of auditory disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Felix, Richard A; Gourévitch, Boris; Portfors, Christine V

    2018-05-01

    Hearing loss is a significant problem that affects at least 15% of the population. This percentage, however, is likely significantly higher because of a variety of auditory disorders that are not identifiable through traditional tests of peripheral hearing ability. In these disorders, individuals have difficulty understanding speech, particularly in noisy environments, even though the sounds are loud enough to hear. The underlying mechanisms leading to such deficits are not well understood. To enable the development of suitable treatments to alleviate or prevent such disorders, the affected processing pathways must be identified. Historically, mechanisms underlying speech processing have been thought to be a property of the auditory cortex and thus the study of auditory disorders has largely focused on cortical impairments and/or cognitive processes. As we review here, however, there is strong evidence to suggest that, in fact, deficits in subcortical pathways play a significant role in auditory disorders. In this review, we highlight the role of the auditory brainstem and midbrain in processing complex sounds and discuss how deficits in these regions may contribute to auditory dysfunction. We discuss current research with animal models of human hearing and then consider human studies that implicate impairments in subcortical processing that may contribute to auditory disorders. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Auditory and visual memory in musicians and nonmusicians

    OpenAIRE

    Cohen, Michael A.; Evans, Karla K.; Horowitz, Todd S.; Wolfe, Jeremy M.

    2011-01-01

    Numerous studies have shown that musicians outperform nonmusicians on a variety of tasks. Here we provide the first evidence that musicians have superior auditory recognition memory for both musical and nonmusical stimuli, compared to nonmusicians. However, this advantage did not generalize to the visual domain. Previously, we showed that auditory recognition memory is inferior to visual recognition memory. Would this be true even for trained musicians? We compared auditory and visual memory ...

  20. Air pollution is associated with brainstem auditory nuclei pathology and delayed brainstem auditory evoked potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calderón-Garcidueñas, Lilian; D'Angiulli, Amedeo; Kulesza, Randy J; Torres-Jardón, Ricardo; Osnaya, Norma; Romero, Lina; Keefe, Sheyla; Herritt, Lou; Brooks, Diane M; Avila-Ramirez, Jose; Delgado-Chávez, Ricardo; Medina-Cortina, Humberto; González-González, Luis Oscar

    2011-06-01

    We assessed brainstem inflammation in children exposed to air pollutants by comparing brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) and blood inflammatory markers in children age 96.3±8.5 months from highly polluted (n=34) versus a low polluted city (n=17). The brainstems of nine children with accidental deaths were also examined. Children from the highly polluted environment had significant delays in wave III (t(50)=17.038; p7.501; p<0.0001), consisting with delayed central conduction time of brainstem neural transmission. Highly exposed children showed significant evidence of inflammatory markers and their auditory and vestibular nuclei accumulated α synuclein and/or β amyloid(1-42). Medial superior olive neurons, critically involved in BAEPs, displayed significant pathology. Children's exposure to urban air pollution increases their risk for auditory and vestibular impairment. Copyright © 2011 ISDN. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Psychophysical and Neural Correlates of Auditory Attraction and Aversion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patten, Kristopher Jakob

    This study explores the psychophysical and neural processes associated with the perception of sounds as either pleasant or aversive. The underlying psychophysical theory is based on auditory scene analysis, the process through which listeners parse auditory signals into individual acoustic sources. The first experiment tests and confirms that a self-rated pleasantness continuum reliably exists for 20 various stimuli (r = .48). In addition, the pleasantness continuum correlated with the physical acoustic characteristics of consonance/dissonance (r = .78), which can facilitate auditory parsing processes. The second experiment uses an fMRI block design to test blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) changes elicited by a subset of 5 exemplar stimuli chosen from Experiment 1 that are evenly distributed over the pleasantness continuum. Specifically, it tests and confirms that the pleasantness continuum produces systematic changes in brain activity for unpleasant acoustic stimuli beyond what occurs with pleasant auditory stimuli. Results revealed that the combination of two positively and two negatively valenced experimental sounds compared to one neutral baseline control elicited BOLD increases in the primary auditory cortex, specifically the bilateral superior temporal gyrus, and left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex; the latter being consistent with a frontal decision-making process common in identification tasks. The negatively-valenced stimuli yielded additional BOLD increases in the left insula, which typically indicates processing of visceral emotions. The positively-valenced stimuli did not yield any significant BOLD activation, consistent with consonant, harmonic stimuli being the prototypical acoustic pattern of auditory objects that is optimal for auditory scene analysis. Both the psychophysical findings of Experiment 1 and the neural processing findings of Experiment 2 support that consonance is an important dimension of sound that is processed in a manner that aids

  2. Auditory reafferences: The influence of real-time feedback on movement control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christian eKennel

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Auditory reafferences are real-time auditory products created by a person’s own movements. Whereas the interdependency of action and perception is generally well studied, the auditory feedback channel and the influence of perceptual processes during movement execution remain largely unconsidered. We argue that movements have a rhythmic character that is closely connected to sound, making it possible to manipulate auditory reafferences online to understand their role in motor control. We examined if step sounds, occurring as a by-product of running, have an influence on the performance of a complex movement task. Twenty participants completed a hurdling task in three auditory feedback conditions: a control condition with normal auditory feedback, a white noise condition in which sound was masked, and a delayed auditory feedback condition. Overall time and kinematic data were collected. Results show that delayed auditory feedback led to a significantly slower overall time and changed kinematic parameters. Our findings complement previous investigations in a natural movement situation with nonartificial auditory cues. Our results support the existing theoretical understanding of action–perception coupling and hold potential for applied work, where naturally occurring movement sounds can be implemented in the motor learning processes.

  3. Auditory reafferences: the influence of real-time feedback on movement control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kennel, Christian; Streese, Lukas; Pizzera, Alexandra; Justen, Christoph; Hohmann, Tanja; Raab, Markus

    2015-01-01

    Auditory reafferences are real-time auditory products created by a person's own movements. Whereas the interdependency of action and perception is generally well studied, the auditory feedback channel and the influence of perceptual processes during movement execution remain largely unconsidered. We argue that movements have a rhythmic character that is closely connected to sound, making it possible to manipulate auditory reafferences online to understand their role in motor control. We examined if step sounds, occurring as a by-product of running, have an influence on the performance of a complex movement task. Twenty participants completed a hurdling task in three auditory feedback conditions: a control condition with normal auditory feedback, a white noise condition in which sound was masked, and a delayed auditory feedback condition. Overall time and kinematic data were collected. Results show that delayed auditory feedback led to a significantly slower overall time and changed kinematic parameters. Our findings complement previous investigations in a natural movement situation with non-artificial auditory cues. Our results support the existing theoretical understanding of action-perception coupling and hold potential for applied work, where naturally occurring movement sounds can be implemented in the motor learning processes.

  4. Middle components of the auditory evoked response in bilateral temporal lobe lesions. Report on a patient with auditory agnosia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Parving, A; Salomon, G; Elberling, Claus

    1980-01-01

    An investigation of the middle components of the auditory evoked response (10--50 msec post-stimulus) in a patient with auditory agnosia is reported. Bilateral temporal lobe infarctions were proved by means of brain scintigraphy, CAT scanning, and regional cerebral blood flow measurements...

  5. Auditory memory for temporal characteristics of sound.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zokoll, Melanie A; Klump, Georg M; Langemann, Ulrike

    2008-05-01

    This study evaluates auditory memory for variations in the rate of sinusoidal amplitude modulation (SAM) of noise bursts in the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris). To estimate the extent of the starling's auditory short-term memory store, a delayed non-matching-to-sample paradigm was applied. The birds were trained to discriminate between a series of identical "sample stimuli" and a single "test stimulus". The birds classified SAM rates of sample and test stimuli as being either the same or different. Memory performance of the birds was measured as the percentage of correct classifications. Auditory memory persistence time was estimated as a function of the delay between sample and test stimuli. Memory performance was significantly affected by the delay between sample and test and by the number of sample stimuli presented before the test stimulus, but was not affected by the difference in SAM rate between sample and test stimuli. The individuals' auditory memory persistence times varied between 2 and 13 s. The starlings' auditory memory persistence in the present study for signals varying in the temporal domain was significantly shorter compared to that of a previous study (Zokoll et al. in J Acoust Soc Am 121:2842, 2007) applying tonal stimuli varying in the spectral domain.

  6. Effects of Caffeine on Auditory Brainstem Response

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saleheh Soleimanian

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available Background and Aim: Blocking of the adenosine receptor in central nervous system by caffeine can lead to increasing the level of neurotransmitters like glutamate. As the adenosine receptors are present in almost all brain areas like central auditory pathway, it seems caffeine can change conduction in this way. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of caffeine on latency and amplitude of auditory brainstem response(ABR.Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial study 43 normal 18-25 years old male students were participated. The subjects consumed 0, 2 and 3 mg/kg BW caffeine in three different sessions. Auditory brainstem responses were recorded before and 30 minute after caffeine consumption. The results were analyzed by Friedman and Wilcoxone test to assess the effects of caffeine on auditory brainstem response.Results: Compared to control group the latencies of waves III,V and I-V interpeak interval of the cases decreased significantly after 2 and 3mg/kg BW caffeine consumption. Wave I latency significantly decreased after 3mg/kg BW caffeine consumption(p<0.01. Conclusion: Increasing of the glutamate level resulted from the adenosine receptor blocking brings about changes in conduction in the central auditory pathway.

  7. Auditory capture of visual motion: effects on perception and discrimination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCourt, Mark E; Leone, Lynnette M

    2016-09-28

    We asked whether the perceived direction of visual motion and contrast thresholds for motion discrimination are influenced by the concurrent motion of an auditory sound source. Visual motion stimuli were counterphasing Gabor patches, whose net motion energy was manipulated by adjusting the contrast of the leftward-moving and rightward-moving components. The presentation of these visual stimuli was paired with the simultaneous presentation of auditory stimuli, whose apparent motion in 3D auditory space (rightward, leftward, static, no sound) was manipulated using interaural time and intensity differences, and Doppler cues. In experiment 1, observers judged whether the Gabor visual stimulus appeared to move rightward or leftward. In experiment 2, contrast discrimination thresholds for detecting the interval containing unequal (rightward or leftward) visual motion energy were obtained under the same auditory conditions. Experiment 1 showed that the perceived direction of ambiguous visual motion is powerfully influenced by concurrent auditory motion, such that auditory motion 'captured' ambiguous visual motion. Experiment 2 showed that this interaction occurs at a sensory stage of processing as visual contrast discrimination thresholds (a criterion-free measure of sensitivity) were significantly elevated when paired with congruent auditory motion. These results suggest that auditory and visual motion signals are integrated and combined into a supramodal (audiovisual) representation of motion.

  8. Strategy choice mediates the link between auditory processing and spelling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwong, Tru E; Brachman, Kyle J

    2014-01-01

    Relations among linguistic auditory processing, nonlinguistic auditory processing, spelling ability, and spelling strategy choice were examined. Sixty-three undergraduate students completed measures of auditory processing (one involving distinguishing similar tones, one involving distinguishing similar phonemes, and one involving selecting appropriate spellings for individual phonemes). Participants also completed a modified version of a standardized spelling test, and a secondary spelling test with retrospective strategy reports. Once testing was completed, participants were divided into phonological versus nonphonological spellers on the basis of the number of words they spelled using phonological strategies only. Results indicated a) moderate to strong positive correlations among the different auditory processing tasks in terms of reaction time, but not accuracy levels, and b) weak to moderate positive correlations between measures of linguistic auditory processing (phoneme distinction and phoneme spelling choice in the presence of foils) and spelling ability for phonological spellers, but not for nonphonological spellers. These results suggest a possible explanation for past contradictory research on auditory processing and spelling, which has been divided in terms of whether or not disabled spellers seemed to have poorer auditory processing than did typically developing spellers, and suggest implications for teaching spelling to children with good versus poor auditory processing abilities.

  9. Maintenance of auditory-nonverbal information in working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soemer, Alexander; Saito, Satoru

    2015-12-01

    According to the multicomponent view of working memory, both auditory-nonverbal information and auditory-verbal information are stored in a phonological code and are maintained by an articulation-based rehearsal mechanism (Baddeley, 2012). Two experiments have been carried out to investigate this hypothesis using sound materials that are difficult to label verbally and difficult to articulate. Participants were required to maintain 2 to 4 sounds differing in timbre over a delay of up to 12 seconds while performing different secondary tasks. While there was no convincing evidence for articulatory rehearsal as a main maintenance mechanism for auditory-nonverbal information, the results suggest that processes similar or identical to auditory imagery might contribute to maintenance. We discuss the implications of these results for multicomponent models of working memory.

  10. Colorization-Based RGB-White Color Interpolation using Color Filter Array with Randomly Sampled Pattern.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, Paul; Lee, Sukho; Kang, Moon Gi

    2017-06-28

    Recently, several RGB-White (RGBW) color filter arrays (CFAs) have been proposed, which have extra white (W) pixels in the filter array that are highly sensitive. Due to the high sensitivity, the W pixels have better SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) characteristics than other color pixels in the filter array, especially, in low light conditions. However, most of the RGBW CFAs are designed so that the acquired RGBW pattern image can be converted into the conventional Bayer pattern image, which is then again converted into the final color image by using conventional demosaicing methods, i.e., color interpolation techniques. In this paper, we propose a new RGBW color filter array based on a totally different color interpolation technique, the colorization algorithm. The colorization algorithm was initially proposed for colorizing a gray image into a color image using a small number of color seeds. Here, we adopt this algorithm as a color interpolation technique, so that the RGBW color filter array can be designed with a very large number of W pixels to make the most of the highly sensitive characteristics of the W channel. The resulting RGBW color filter array has a pattern with a large proportion of W pixels, while the small-numbered RGB pixels are randomly distributed over the array. The colorization algorithm makes it possible to reconstruct the colors from such a small number of RGB values. Due to the large proportion of W pixels, the reconstructed color image has a high SNR value, especially higher than those of conventional CFAs in low light condition. Experimental results show that many important information which are not perceived in color images reconstructed with conventional CFAs are perceived in the images reconstructed with the proposed method.

  11. Contextual modulation of primary visual cortex by auditory signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petro, L S; Paton, A T; Muckli, L

    2017-02-19

    Early visual cortex receives non-feedforward input from lateral and top-down connections (Muckli & Petro 2013 Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 23, 195-201. (doi:10.1016/j.conb.2013.01.020)), including long-range projections from auditory areas. Early visual cortex can code for high-level auditory information, with neural patterns representing natural sound stimulation (Vetter et al. 2014 Curr. Biol. 24, 1256-1262. (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.04.020)). We discuss a number of questions arising from these findings. What is the adaptive function of bimodal representations in visual cortex? What type of information projects from auditory to visual cortex? What are the anatomical constraints of auditory information in V1, for example, periphery versus fovea, superficial versus deep cortical layers? Is there a putative neural mechanism we can infer from human neuroimaging data and recent theoretical accounts of cortex? We also present data showing we can read out high-level auditory information from the activation patterns of early visual cortex even when visual cortex receives simple visual stimulation, suggesting independent channels for visual and auditory signals in V1. We speculate which cellular mechanisms allow V1 to be contextually modulated by auditory input to facilitate perception, cognition and behaviour. Beyond cortical feedback that facilitates perception, we argue that there is also feedback serving counterfactual processing during imagery, dreaming and mind wandering, which is not relevant for immediate perception but for behaviour and cognition over a longer time frame.This article is part of the themed issue 'Auditory and visual scene analysis'. © 2017 The Authors.

  12. Of colored numbers and numbered colors: interactive processes in grapheme-color synesthesia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gebuis, Titia; Nijboer, Tanja C W; van der Smagt, Maarten J

    2009-01-01

    Grapheme-color synesthetes experience a specific color when they see a grapheme but they do not report to perceive a grapheme when a color is presented. In this study, we investigate whether color can still evoke number-processes even when a vivid number experience is absent. We used color-number and number-color priming, both revealing faster responses in congruent compared to incongruent conditions. Interestingly, the congruency effect was of similar magnitude for both conditions, and a numerical distance effect was present only in the color-number priming task. In addition, a priming task in which synesthetes had to judge the parity of a colored number revealed faster responses in parity congruent than in parity incongruent trials. These combined results demonstrate that synesthesia is indeed bi-directional and of similar strength in both directions. Furthermore, they illustrate the precise nature of these interactions and show that the direction of these interactions is determined by task demands, not by the more vividly experienced aspect of the stimulus.

  13. Magnetic resonance imaging of the internal auditory canal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Daniels, D.L.; Herfkins, R.; Koehler, P.R.; Millen, S.J.; Shaffer, K.A.; Williams, A.L.; Haughton, V.M.

    1984-01-01

    Three patients with exclusively or predominantly intracanalicular neuromas and 5 with presumably normal internal auditory canals were examined with prototype 1.4- or 1.5-tesla magnetic resonance (MR) scanners. MR images showed the 7th and 8th cranial nerves in the internal auditory canal. The intracanalicular neuromas had larger diameter and slightly greater signal strength than the nerves. Early results suggest that minimal enlargement of the nerves can be detected even in the internal auditory canal

  14. A basic study on universal design of auditory signals in automobiles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamauchi, Katsuya; Choi, Jong-dae; Maiguma, Ryo; Takada, Masayuki; Iwamiya, Shin-ichiro

    2004-11-01

    In this paper, the impression of various kinds of auditory signals currently used in automobiles and a comprehensive evaluation were measured by a semantic differential method. The desirable acoustic characteristic was examined for each type of auditory signal. Sharp sounds with dominant high-frequency components were not suitable for auditory signals in automobiles. This trend is expedient for the aged whose auditory sensitivity in the high frequency region is lower. When intermittent sounds were used, a longer OFF time was suitable. Generally, "dull (not sharp)" and "calm" sounds were appropriate for auditory signals. Furthermore, the comparison between the frequency spectrum of interior noise in automobiles and that of suitable sounds for various auditory signals indicates that the suitable sounds are not easily masked. The suitable auditory signals for various purposes is a good solution from the viewpoint of universal design.

  15. Presbycusis and auditory brainstem responses: a review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shilpa Khullar

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Age-related hearing loss or presbycusis is a complex phenomenon consisting of elevation of hearing levels as well as changes in the auditory processing. It is commonly classified into four categories depending on the cause. Auditory brainstem responses (ABRs are a type of early evoked potentials recorded within the first 10 ms of stimulation. They represent the synchronized activity of the auditory nerve and the brainstem. Some of the changes that occur in the aging auditory system may significantly influence the interpretation of the ABRs in comparison with the ABRs of the young adults. The waves of ABRs are described in terms of amplitude, latencies and interpeak latency of the different waves. There is a tendency of the amplitude to decrease and the absolute latencies to increase with advancing age but these trends are not always clear due to increase in threshold with advancing age that act a major confounding factor in the interpretation of ABRs.

  16. Negative emotion provides cues for orienting auditory spatial attention

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erkin eAsutay

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The auditory stimuli provide information about the objects and events around us. They can also carry biologically significant emotional information (such as unseen dangers and conspecific vocalizations, which provides cues for allocation of attention and mental resources. Here, we investigated whether task-irrelevant auditory emotional information can provide cues for orientation of auditory spatial attention. We employed a covert spatial orienting task: the dot-probe task. In each trial, two task irrelevant auditory cues were simultaneously presented at two separate locations (left-right or front-back. Environmental sounds were selected to form emotional vs. neutral, emotional vs. emotional, and neutral vs. neutral cue pairs. The participants’ task was to detect the location of an acoustic target that was presented immediately after the task-irrelevant auditory cues. The target was presented at the same location as one of the auditory cues. The results indicated that participants were significantly faster to locate the target when it replaced the negative cue compared to when it replaced the neutral cue. The positive cues did not produce a clear attentional bias. Further, same valence pairs (emotional-emotional or neutral-neutral did not modulate reaction times due to a lack of spatial attention capture by one cue in the pair. Taken together, the results indicate that negative affect can provide cues for the orientation of spatial attention in the auditory domain.

  17. [Low level auditory skills compared to writing skills in school children attending third and fourth grade: evidence for the rapid auditory processing deficit theory?].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ptok, M; Meisen, R

    2008-01-01

    The rapid auditory processing defi-cit theory holds that impaired reading/writing skills are not caused exclusively by a cognitive deficit specific to representation and processing of speech sounds but arise due to sensory, mainly auditory, deficits. To further explore this theory we compared different measures of auditory low level skills to writing skills in school children. prospective study. School children attending third and fourth grade. just noticeable differences for intensity and frequency (JNDI, JNDF), gap detection (GD) monaural and binaural temporal order judgement (TOJb and TOJm); grade in writing, language and mathematics. correlation analysis. No relevant correlation was found between any auditory low level processing variable and writing skills. These data do not support the rapid auditory processing deficit theory.

  18. Auditory Processing Disorder and Foreign Language Acquisition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veselovska, Ganna

    2015-01-01

    This article aims at exploring various strategies for coping with the auditory processing disorder in the light of foreign language acquisition. The techniques relevant to dealing with the auditory processing disorder can be attributed to environmental and compensatory approaches. The environmental one involves actions directed at creating a…

  19. Bilateral duplication of the internal auditory canal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weon, Young Cheol; Kim, Jae Hyoung; Choi, Sung Kyu; Koo, Ja-Won

    2007-01-01

    Duplication of the internal auditory canal is an extremely rare temporal bone anomaly that is believed to result from aplasia or hypoplasia of the vestibulocochlear nerve. We report bilateral duplication of the internal auditory canal in a 28-month-old boy with developmental delay and sensorineural hearing loss. (orig.)

  20. Primary Auditory Cortex Regulates Threat Memory Specificity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wigestrand, Mattis B.; Schiff, Hillary C.; Fyhn, Marianne; LeDoux, Joseph E.; Sears, Robert M.

    2017-01-01

    Distinguishing threatening from nonthreatening stimuli is essential for survival and stimulus generalization is a hallmark of anxiety disorders. While auditory threat learning produces long-lasting plasticity in primary auditory cortex (Au1), it is not clear whether such Au1 plasticity regulates memory specificity or generalization. We used…

  1. Precision of synesthetic color matching resembles that for recollected colors rather than physical colors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnold, Derek H; Wegener, Signy V; Brown, Francesca; Mattingley, Jason B

    2012-10-01

    Grapheme-color synesthesia is an atypical condition in which individuals experience sensations of color when reading printed graphemes such as letters and digits. For some grapheme-color synesthetes, seeing a printed grapheme triggers a sensation of color, but hearing the name of a grapheme does not. This dissociation allowed us to compare the precision with which synesthetes are able to match their color experiences triggered by visible graphemes, with the precision of their matches for recalled colors based on the same graphemes spoken aloud. In six synesthetes, color matching for printed graphemes was equally variable relative to recalled experiences. In a control experiment, synesthetes and age-matched controls either matched the color of a circular patch while it was visible on a screen, or they judged its color from memory after it had disappeared. Both synesthetes and controls were more variable when matching from memory, and the variance of synesthetes' recalled color judgments matched that associated with their synesthetic judgments for visible graphemes in the first experiment. Results suggest that synesthetic experiences of color triggered by achromatic graphemes are analogous to recollections of color.

  2. Color Terms and Color Concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davidoff, Jules

    2006-01-01

    In their lead articles, both Kowalski and Zimiles (2006) and O'Hanlon and Roberson (2006) declare a general relation between color term knowledge and the ability to conceptually represent color. Kowalski and Zimiles, in particular, argue for a priority for the conceptual representation in color term acquisition. The complexities of the interaction…

  3. Auditory and communicative abilities in the auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder and mutation in the Otoferlin gene: clinical cases study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costa, Nayara Thais de Oliveira; Martinho-Carvalho, Ana Claudia; Cunha, Maria Claudia; Lewis, Doris Ruthi

    2012-01-01

    This study had the aim to investigate the auditory and communicative abilities of children diagnosed with Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder due to mutation in the Otoferlin gene. It is a descriptive and qualitative study in which two siblings with this diagnosis were assessed. The procedures conducted were: speech perception tests for children with profound hearing loss, and assessment of communication abilities using the Behavioral Observation Protocol. Because they were siblings, the subjects in the study shared family and communicative context. However, they developed different communication abilities, especially regarding the use of oral language. The study showed that the Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder is a heterogeneous condition in all its aspects, and it is not possible to make generalizations or assume that cases with similar clinical features will develop similar auditory and communicative abilities, even when they are siblings. It is concluded that the acquisition of communicative abilities involves subjective factors, which should be investigated based on the uniqueness of each case.

  4. Reduced auditory processing capacity during vocalization in children with Selective Mutism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arie, Miri; Henkin, Yael; Lamy, Dominique; Tetin-Schneider, Simona; Apter, Alan; Sadeh, Avi; Bar-Haim, Yair

    2007-02-01

    Because abnormal Auditory Efferent Activity (AEA) is associated with auditory distortions during vocalization, we tested whether auditory processing is impaired during vocalization in children with Selective Mutism (SM). Participants were children with SM and abnormal AEA, children with SM and normal AEA, and normally speaking controls, who had to detect aurally presented target words embedded within word lists under two conditions: silence (single task), and while vocalizing (dual task). To ascertain specificity of auditory-vocal deficit, effects of concurrent vocalizing were also examined during a visual task. Children with SM and abnormal AEA showed impaired auditory processing during vocalization relative to children with SM and normal AEA, and relative to control children. This impairment is specific to the auditory modality and does not reflect difficulties in dual task per se. The data extends previous findings suggesting that deficient auditory processing is involved in speech selectivity in SM.

  5. A Case of Generalized Auditory Agnosia with Unilateral Subcortical Brain Lesion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suh, Hyee; Kim, Soo Yeon; Kim, Sook Hee; Chang, Jae Hyeok; Shin, Yong Beom; Ko, Hyun-Yoon

    2012-01-01

    The mechanisms and functional anatomy underlying the early stages of speech perception are still not well understood. Auditory agnosia is a deficit of auditory object processing defined as a disability to recognize spoken languages and/or nonverbal environmental sounds and music despite adequate hearing while spontaneous speech, reading and writing are preserved. Usually, either the bilateral or unilateral temporal lobe, especially the transverse gyral lesions, are responsible for auditory agnosia. Subcortical lesions without cortical damage rarely causes auditory agnosia. We present a 73-year-old right-handed male with generalized auditory agnosia caused by a unilateral subcortical lesion. He was not able to repeat or dictate but to perform fluent and comprehensible speech. He could understand and read written words and phrases. His auditory brainstem evoked potential and audiometry were intact. This case suggested that the subcortical lesion involving unilateral acoustic radiation could cause generalized auditory agnosia. PMID:23342322

  6. Auditory motion in the sighted and blind: Early visual deprivation triggers a large-scale imbalance between auditory and "visual" brain regions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dormal, Giulia; Rezk, Mohamed; Yakobov, Esther; Lepore, Franco; Collignon, Olivier

    2016-07-01

    How early blindness reorganizes the brain circuitry that supports auditory motion processing remains controversial. We used fMRI to characterize brain responses to in-depth, laterally moving, and static sounds in early blind and sighted individuals. Whole-brain univariate analyses revealed that the right posterior middle temporal gyrus and superior occipital gyrus selectively responded to both in-depth and laterally moving sounds only in the blind. These regions overlapped with regions selective for visual motion (hMT+/V5 and V3A) that were independently localized in the sighted. In the early blind, the right planum temporale showed enhanced functional connectivity with right occipito-temporal regions during auditory motion processing and a concomitant reduced functional connectivity with parietal and frontal regions. Whole-brain searchlight multivariate analyses demonstrated higher auditory motion decoding in the right posterior middle temporal gyrus in the blind compared to the sighted, while decoding accuracy was enhanced in the auditory cortex bilaterally in the sighted compared to the blind. Analyses targeting individually defined visual area hMT+/V5 however indicated that auditory motion information could be reliably decoded within this area even in the sighted group. Taken together, the present findings demonstrate that early visual deprivation triggers a large-scale imbalance between auditory and "visual" brain regions that typically support the processing of motion information. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Using Facebook to Reach People Who Experience Auditory Hallucinations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crosier, Benjamin Sage; Brian, Rachel Marie; Ben-Zeev, Dror

    2016-06-14

    Auditory hallucinations (eg, hearing voices) are relatively common and underreported false sensory experiences that may produce distress and impairment. A large proportion of those who experience auditory hallucinations go unidentified and untreated. Traditional engagement methods oftentimes fall short in reaching the diverse population of people who experience auditory hallucinations. The objective of this proof-of-concept study was to examine the viability of leveraging Web-based social media as a method of engaging people who experience auditory hallucinations and to evaluate their attitudes toward using social media platforms as a resource for Web-based support and technology-based treatment. We used Facebook advertisements to recruit individuals who experience auditory hallucinations to complete an 18-item Web-based survey focused on issues related to auditory hallucinations and technology use in American adults. We systematically tested multiple elements of the advertisement and survey layout including image selection, survey pagination, question ordering, and advertising targeting strategy. Each element was evaluated sequentially and the most cost-effective strategy was implemented in the subsequent steps, eventually deriving an optimized approach. Three open-ended question responses were analyzed using conventional inductive content analysis. Coded responses were quantified into binary codes, and frequencies were then calculated. Recruitment netted N=264 total sample over a 6-week period. Ninety-seven participants fully completed all measures at a total cost of $8.14 per participant across testing phases. Systematic adjustments to advertisement design, survey layout, and targeting strategies improved data quality and cost efficiency. People were willing to provide information on what triggered their auditory hallucinations along with strategies they use to cope, as well as provide suggestions to others who experience auditory hallucinations. Women, people

  8. Using Facebook to Reach People Who Experience Auditory Hallucinations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brian, Rachel Marie; Ben-Zeev, Dror

    2016-01-01

    Background Auditory hallucinations (eg, hearing voices) are relatively common and underreported false sensory experiences that may produce distress and impairment. A large proportion of those who experience auditory hallucinations go unidentified and untreated. Traditional engagement methods oftentimes fall short in reaching the diverse population of people who experience auditory hallucinations. Objective The objective of this proof-of-concept study was to examine the viability of leveraging Web-based social media as a method of engaging people who experience auditory hallucinations and to evaluate their attitudes toward using social media platforms as a resource for Web-based support and technology-based treatment. Methods We used Facebook advertisements to recruit individuals who experience auditory hallucinations to complete an 18-item Web-based survey focused on issues related to auditory hallucinations and technology use in American adults. We systematically tested multiple elements of the advertisement and survey layout including image selection, survey pagination, question ordering, and advertising targeting strategy. Each element was evaluated sequentially and the most cost-effective strategy was implemented in the subsequent steps, eventually deriving an optimized approach. Three open-ended question responses were analyzed using conventional inductive content analysis. Coded responses were quantified into binary codes, and frequencies were then calculated. Results Recruitment netted N=264 total sample over a 6-week period. Ninety-seven participants fully completed all measures at a total cost of $8.14 per participant across testing phases. Systematic adjustments to advertisement design, survey layout, and targeting strategies improved data quality and cost efficiency. People were willing to provide information on what triggered their auditory hallucinations along with strategies they use to cope, as well as provide suggestions to others who experience

  9. Color Categories and Color Appearance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webster, Michael A.; Kay, Paul

    2012-01-01

    We examined categorical effects in color appearance in two tasks, which in part differed in the extent to which color naming was explicitly required for the response. In one, we measured the effects of color differences on perceptual grouping for hues that spanned the blue-green boundary, to test whether chromatic differences across the boundary…

  10. Molecular approach of auditory neuropathy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, Magali Aparecida Orate Menezes da; Piatto, Vânia Belintani; Maniglia, Jose Victor

    2015-01-01

    Mutations in the otoferlin gene are responsible for auditory neuropathy. To investigate the prevalence of mutations in the mutations in the otoferlin gene in patients with and without auditory neuropathy. This original cross-sectional case study evaluated 16 index cases with auditory neuropathy, 13 patients with sensorineural hearing loss, and 20 normal-hearing subjects. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes, and the mutations in the otoferlin gene sites were amplified by polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism. The 16 index cases included nine (56%) females and seven (44%) males. The 13 deaf patients comprised seven (54%) males and six (46%) females. Among the 20 normal-hearing subjects, 13 (65%) were males and seven were (35%) females. Thirteen (81%) index cases had wild-type genotype (AA) and three (19%) had the heterozygous AG genotype for IVS8-2A-G (intron 8) mutation. The 5473C-G (exon 44) mutation was found in a heterozygous state (CG) in seven (44%) index cases and nine (56%) had the wild-type allele (CC). Of these mutants, two (25%) were compound heterozygotes for the mutations found in intron 8 and exon 44. All patients with sensorineural hearing loss and normal-hearing individuals did not have mutations (100%). There are differences at the molecular level in patients with and without auditory neuropathy. Copyright © 2015 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

  11. Visual and auditory perception in preschool children at risk for dyslexia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ortiz, Rosario; Estévez, Adelina; Muñetón, Mercedes; Domínguez, Carolina

    2014-11-01

    Recently, there has been renewed interest in perceptive problems of dyslexics. A polemic research issue in this area has been the nature of the perception deficit. Another issue is the causal role of this deficit in dyslexia. Most studies have been carried out in adult and child literates; consequently, the observed deficits may be the result rather than the cause of dyslexia. This study addresses these issues by examining visual and auditory perception in children at risk for dyslexia. We compared children from preschool with and without risk for dyslexia in auditory and visual temporal order judgment tasks and same-different discrimination tasks. Identical visual and auditory, linguistic and nonlinguistic stimuli were presented in both tasks. The results revealed that the visual as well as the auditory perception of children at risk for dyslexia is impaired. The comparison between groups in auditory and visual perception shows that the achievement of children at risk was lower than children without risk for dyslexia in the temporal tasks. There were no differences between groups in auditory discrimination tasks. The difficulties of children at risk in visual and auditory perceptive processing affected both linguistic and nonlinguistic stimuli. Our conclusions are that children at risk for dyslexia show auditory and visual perceptive deficits for linguistic and nonlinguistic stimuli. The auditory impairment may be explained by temporal processing problems and these problems are more serious for processing language than for processing other auditory stimuli. These visual and auditory perceptive deficits are not the consequence of failing to learn to read, thus, these findings support the theory of temporal processing deficit. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Evolutionary conservation and neuronal mechanisms of auditory perceptual restoration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petkov, Christopher I; Sutter, Mitchell L

    2011-01-01

    Auditory perceptual 'restoration' occurs when the auditory system restores an occluded or masked sound of interest. Behavioral work on auditory restoration in humans began over 50 years ago using it to model a noisy environmental scene with competing sounds. It has become clear that not only humans experience auditory restoration: restoration has been broadly conserved in many species. Behavioral studies in humans and animals provide a necessary foundation to link the insights being obtained from human EEG and fMRI to those from animal neurophysiology. The aggregate of data resulting from multiple approaches across species has begun to clarify the neuronal bases of auditory restoration. Different types of neural responses supporting restoration have been found, supportive of multiple mechanisms working within a species. Yet a general principle has emerged that responses correlated with restoration mimic the response that would have been given to the uninterrupted sound of interest. Using the same technology to study different species will help us to better harness animal models of 'auditory scene analysis' to clarify the conserved neural mechanisms shaping the perceptual organization of sound and to advance strategies to improve hearing in natural environmental settings. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Radiographic film dosimetry of proton beams for depth‐dose constancy check and beam profile measurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teran, Anthony; Ghebremedhin, Abiel; Johnson, Matt; Patyal, Baldev

    2015-01-01

    Radiographic film dosimetry suffers from its energy dependence in proton dosimetry. This study sought to develop a method of measuring proton beams by the film and to evaluate film response to proton beams for the constancy check of depth dose (DD). It also evaluated the film for profile measurements. To achieve this goal, from DDs measured by film and ion chamber (IC), calibration factors (ratios of dose measured by IC to film responses) as a function of depth in a phantom were obtained. These factors imply variable slopes (with proton energy and depth) of linear characteristic curves that relate film response to dose. We derived a calibration method that enables utilization of the factors for acquisition of dose from film density measured at later dates by adapting to a potentially altered processor condition. To test this model, the characteristic curve was obtained by using EDR2 film and in‐phantom film dosimetry in parallel with a 149.65 MeV proton beam, using the method. An additional validation of the model was performed by concurrent film and IC measurement perpendicular to the beam at various depths. Beam profile measurements by the film were also evaluated at the center of beam modulation. In order to interpret and ascertain the film dosimetry, Monte Carlos simulation of the beam was performed, calculating the proton fluence spectrum along depths and off‐axis distances. By multiplying respective stopping powers to the spectrum, doses to film and water were calculated. The ratio of film dose to water dose was evaluated. Results are as follows. The characteristic curve proved the assumed linearity. The measured DD approached that of IC, but near the end of the spread‐out Bragg peak (SOBP), a spurious peak was observed due to the mismatch of distal edge between the calibration and measurement films. The width of SOBP and the proximal edge were both reproducible within a maximum of 5 mm; the distal edge was reproducible within 1 mm. At 5 cm depth, the

  14. Auditory and visual evoked potentials during hyperoxia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, D. B. D.; Strawbridge, P. J.

    1974-01-01

    Experimental study of the auditory and visual averaged evoked potentials (AEPs) recorded during hyperoxia, and investigation of the effect of hyperoxia on the so-called contingent negative variation (CNV). No effect of hyperoxia was found on the auditory AEP, the visual AEP, or the CNV. Comparisons with previous studies are discussed.

  15. Color Memory of University Students: Influence of Color Experience and Color Characteristic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bynum, Carlisle; Epps, Helen H.; Kaya, Naz

    2006-01-01

    The ability to select a previously viewed color specimen from an array of specimens that differ in hue, value, or chroma varies among individuals, and may be related to one's basic color discrimination ability or to prior experience with color. This study investigated short-term color memory of 40 college students, 20 of whom were interior design…

  16. Memory for color reactivates color processing region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slotnick, Scott D

    2009-11-25

    Memory is thought to be constructive in nature, where features processed in different cortical regions are synthesized during retrieval. In an effort to support this constructive memory framework, the present functional magnetic resonance imaging study assessed whether memory for color reactivated color processing regions. During encoding, participants were presented with colored and gray abstract shapes. During retrieval, old and new shapes were presented in gray and participants responded 'old-colored', 'old-gray', or 'new'. Within color perception regions, color memory related activity was observed in the left fusiform gyrus, adjacent to the collateral sulcus. A retinotopic mapping analysis indicated this activity occurred within color processing region V8. The present feature specific evidence provides compelling support for a constructive view of memory.

  17. Auditory filters at low-frequencies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Orellana, Carlos Andrés Jurado; Pedersen, Christian Sejer; Møller, Henrik

    2009-01-01

    -ear transfer function), the asymmetry of the auditory filter changed from steeper high-frequency slopes at 1000 Hz to steeper low-frequency slopes below 100 Hz. Increasing steepness at low-frequencies of the middle-ear high-pass filter is thought to cause this effect. The dynamic range of the auditory filter...... was found to steadily decrease with decreasing center frequency. Although the observed decrease in filter bandwidth with decreasing center frequency was only approximately monotonic, the preliminary data indicates the filter bandwidth does not stabilize around 100 Hz, e.g. it still decreases below...

  18. Left hemispheric dominance during auditory processing in a noisy environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ross Bernhard

    2007-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In daily life, we are exposed to different sound inputs simultaneously. During neural encoding in the auditory pathway, neural activities elicited by these different sounds interact with each other. In the present study, we investigated neural interactions elicited by masker and amplitude-modulated test stimulus in primary and non-primary human auditory cortex during ipsi-lateral and contra-lateral masking by means of magnetoencephalography (MEG. Results We observed significant decrements of auditory evoked responses and a significant inter-hemispheric difference for the N1m response during both ipsi- and contra-lateral masking. Conclusion The decrements of auditory evoked neural activities during simultaneous masking can be explained by neural interactions evoked by masker and test stimulus in peripheral and central auditory systems. The inter-hemispheric differences of N1m decrements during ipsi- and contra-lateral masking reflect a basic hemispheric specialization contributing to the processing of complex auditory stimuli such as speech signals in noisy environments.

  19. Acute auditory agnosia as the presenting hearing disorder in MELAS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miceli, Gabriele; Conti, Guido; Cianfoni, Alessandro; Di Giacopo, Raffaella; Zampetti, Patrizia; Servidei, Serenella

    2008-12-01

    MELAS is commonly associated with peripheral hearing loss. Auditory agnosia is a rare cortical auditory impairment, usually due to bilateral temporal damage. We document, for the first time, auditory agnosia as the presenting hearing disorder in MELAS. A young woman with MELAS (A3243G mtDNA mutation) suffered from acute cortical hearing damage following a single stroke-like episode, in the absence of previous hearing deficits. Audiometric testing showed marked central hearing impairment and very mild sensorineural hearing loss. MRI documented bilateral, acute lesions to superior temporal regions. Neuropsychological tests demonstrated auditory agnosia without aphasia. Our data and a review of published reports show that cortical auditory disorders are relatively frequent in MELAS, probably due to the strikingly high incidence of bilateral and symmetric damage following stroke-like episodes. Acute auditory agnosia can be the presenting hearing deficit in MELAS and, conversely, MELAS should be suspected in young adults with sudden hearing loss.

  20. Using Facebook to Reach People Who Experience Auditory Hallucinations

    OpenAIRE

    Crosier, Benjamin Sage; Brian, Rachel Marie; Ben-Zeev, Dror

    2016-01-01

    Background Auditory hallucinations (eg, hearing voices) are relatively common and underreported false sensory experiences that may produce distress and impairment. A large proportion of those who experience auditory hallucinations go unidentified and untreated. Traditional engagement methods oftentimes fall short in reaching the diverse population of people who experience auditory hallucinations. Objective The objective of this proof-of-concept study was to examine the viability of leveraging...

  1. Auditory and Non-Auditory Contributions for Unaided Speech Recognition in Noise as a Function of Hearing Aid Use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gieseler, Anja; Tahden, Maike A S; Thiel, Christiane M; Wagener, Kirsten C; Meis, Markus; Colonius, Hans

    2017-01-01

    Differences in understanding speech in noise among hearing-impaired individuals cannot be explained entirely by hearing thresholds alone, suggesting the contribution of other factors beyond standard auditory ones as derived from the audiogram. This paper reports two analyses addressing individual differences in the explanation of unaided speech-in-noise performance among n = 438 elderly hearing-impaired listeners ( mean = 71.1 ± 5.8 years). The main analysis was designed to identify clinically relevant auditory and non-auditory measures for speech-in-noise prediction using auditory (audiogram, categorical loudness scaling) and cognitive tests (verbal-intelligence test, screening test of dementia), as well as questionnaires assessing various self-reported measures (health status, socio-economic status, and subjective hearing problems). Using stepwise linear regression analysis, 62% of the variance in unaided speech-in-noise performance was explained, with measures Pure-tone average (PTA), Age , and Verbal intelligence emerging as the three most important predictors. In the complementary analysis, those individuals with the same hearing loss profile were separated into hearing aid users (HAU) and non-users (NU), and were then compared regarding potential differences in the test measures and in explaining unaided speech-in-noise recognition. The groupwise comparisons revealed significant differences in auditory measures and self-reported subjective hearing problems, while no differences in the cognitive domain were found. Furthermore, groupwise regression analyses revealed that Verbal intelligence had a predictive value in both groups, whereas Age and PTA only emerged significant in the group of hearing aid NU.

  2. Modification of sudden onset auditory ERP by involuntary attention to visual stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oray, Serkan; Lu, Zhong-Lin; Dawson, Michael E

    2002-03-01

    To investigate the cross-modal nature of the exogenous attention system, we studied how involuntary attention in the visual modality affects ERPs elicited by sudden onset of events in the auditory modality. Relatively loud auditory white noise bursts were presented to subjects with random and long inter-trial intervals. The noise bursts were either presented alone, or paired with a visual stimulus with a visual to auditory onset asynchrony of 120 ms. In a third condition, the visual stimuli were shown alone. All three conditions, auditory alone, visual alone, and paired visual/auditory, were randomly inter-mixed and presented with equal probabilities. Subjects were instructed to fixate on a point in front of them without task instructions concerning either the auditory or visual stimuli. ERPs were recorded from 28 scalp sites throughout every experimental session. Compared to ERPs in the auditory alone condition, pairing the auditory noise bursts with the visual stimulus reduced the amplitude of the auditory N100 component at Cz by 40% and the auditory P200/P300 component at Cz by 25%. No significant topographical change was observed in the scalp distributions of the N100 and P200/P300. Our results suggest that involuntary attention to visual stimuli suppresses early sensory (N100) as well as late cognitive (P200/P300) processing of sudden auditory events. The activation of the exogenous attention system by sudden auditory onset can be modified by involuntary visual attention in a cross-model, passive prepulse inhibition paradigm.

  3. Neuronal activity in primate auditory cortex during the performance of audiovisual tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brosch, Michael; Selezneva, Elena; Scheich, Henning

    2015-03-01

    This study aimed at a deeper understanding of which cognitive and motivational aspects of tasks affect auditory cortical activity. To this end we trained two macaque monkeys to perform two different tasks on the same audiovisual stimulus and to do this with two different sizes of water rewards. The monkeys had to touch a bar after a tone had been turned on together with an LED, and to hold the bar until either the tone (auditory task) or the LED (visual task) was turned off. In 399 multiunits recorded from core fields of auditory cortex we confirmed that during task engagement neurons responded to auditory and non-auditory stimuli that were task-relevant, such as light and water. We also confirmed that firing rates slowly increased or decreased for several seconds during various phases of the tasks. Responses to non-auditory stimuli and slow firing changes were observed during both the auditory and the visual task, with some differences between them. There was also a weak task-dependent modulation of the responses to auditory stimuli. In contrast to these cognitive aspects, motivational aspects of the tasks were not reflected in the firing, except during delivery of the water reward. In conclusion, the present study supports our previous proposal that there are two response types in the auditory cortex that represent the timing and the type of auditory and non-auditory elements of a auditory tasks as well the association between elements. © 2015 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  4. Further Evidence of Auditory Extinction in Aphasia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marshall, Rebecca Shisler; Basilakos, Alexandra; Love-Myers, Kim

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: Preliminary research ( Shisler, 2005) suggests that auditory extinction in individuals with aphasia (IWA) may be connected to binding and attention. In this study, the authors expanded on previous findings on auditory extinction to determine the source of extinction deficits in IWA. Method: Seventeen IWA (M[subscript age] = 53.19 years)…

  5. Effect of conductive hearing loss on central auditory function.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bayat, Arash; Farhadi, Mohammad; Emamdjomeh, Hesam; Saki, Nader; Mirmomeni, Golshan; Rahim, Fakher

    It has been demonstrated that long-term Conductive Hearing Loss (CHL) may influence the precise detection of the temporal features of acoustic signals or Auditory Temporal Processing (ATP). It can be argued that ATP may be the underlying component of many central auditory processing capabilities such as speech comprehension or sound localization. Little is known about the consequences of CHL on temporal aspects of central auditory processing. This study was designed to assess auditory temporal processing ability in individuals with chronic CHL. During this analytical cross-sectional study, 52 patients with mild to moderate chronic CHL and 52 normal-hearing listeners (control), aged between 18 and 45 year-old, were recruited. In order to evaluate auditory temporal processing, the Gaps-in-Noise (GIN) test was used. The results obtained for each ear were analyzed based on the gap perception threshold and the percentage of correct responses. The average of GIN thresholds was significantly smaller for the control group than for the CHL group for both ears (right: p=0.004; left: phearing for both sides (phearing loss in either group (p>0.05). The results suggest reduced auditory temporal processing ability in adults with CHL compared to normal hearing subjects. Therefore, developing a clinical protocol to evaluate auditory temporal processing in this population is recommended. Copyright © 2017 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

  6. Neural Correlates of Auditory Processing, Learning and Memory Formation in Songbirds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pinaud, R.; Terleph, T. A.; Wynne, R. D.; Tremere, L. A.

    Songbirds have emerged as powerful experimental models for the study of auditory processing of complex natural communication signals. Intact hearing is necessary for several behaviors in developing and adult animals including vocal learning, territorial defense, mate selection and individual recognition. These behaviors are thought to require the processing, discrimination and memorization of songs. Although much is known about the brain circuits that participate in sensorimotor (auditory-vocal) integration, especially the ``song-control" system, less is known about the anatomical and functional organization of central auditory pathways. Here we discuss findings associated with a telencephalic auditory area known as the caudomedial nidopallium (NCM). NCM has attracted significant interest as it exhibits functional properties that may support higher order auditory functions such as stimulus discrimination and the formation of auditory memories. NCM neurons are vigorously dr iven by auditory stimuli. Interestingly, these responses are selective to conspecific, relative to heterospecific songs and artificial stimuli. In addition, forms of experience-dependent plasticity occur in NCM and are song-specific. Finally, recent experiments employing high-throughput quantitative proteomics suggest that complex protein regulatory pathways are engaged in NCM as a result of auditory experience. These molecular cascades are likely central to experience-associated plasticity of NCM circuitry and may be part of a network of calcium-driven molecular events that support the formation of auditory memory traces.

  7. Comparison of auditory and visual oddball fMRI in schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Collier, Azurii K; Wolf, Daniel H; Valdez, Jeffrey N; Turetsky, Bruce I; Elliott, Mark A; Gur, Raquel E; Gur, Ruben C

    2014-09-01

    Individuals with schizophrenia often suffer from attentional deficits, both in focusing on task-relevant targets and in inhibiting responses to distractors. Schizophrenia also has a differential impact on attention depending on modality: auditory or visual. However, it remains unclear how abnormal activation of attentional circuitry differs between auditory and visual modalities, as these two modalities have not been directly compared in the same individuals with schizophrenia. We utilized event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare patterns of brain activation during an auditory and visual oddball task in order to identify modality-specific attentional impairment. Healthy controls (n=22) and patients with schizophrenia (n=20) completed auditory and visual oddball tasks in separate sessions. For responses to targets, the auditory modality yielded greater activation than the visual modality (A-V) in auditory cortex, insula, and parietal operculum, but visual activation was greater than auditory (V-A) in visual cortex. For responses to novels, A-V differences were found in auditory cortex, insula, and supramarginal gyrus; and V-A differences in the visual cortex, inferior temporal gyrus, and superior parietal lobule. Group differences in modality-specific activation were found only for novel stimuli; controls showed larger A-V differences than patients in prefrontal cortex and the putamen. Furthermore, for patients, greater severity of negative symptoms was associated with greater divergence of A-V novel activation in the visual cortex. Our results demonstrate that patients have more pronounced activation abnormalities in auditory compared to visual attention, and link modality specific abnormalities to negative symptom severity. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Using Single Colors and Color Pairs to Communicate Basic Tastes II: Foreground-Background Color Combinations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woods, Andy T; Marmolejo-Ramos, Fernando; Velasco, Carlos; Spence, Charles

    2016-01-01

    People associate basic tastes (e.g., sweet, sour, bitter, and salty) with specific colors (e.g., pink or red, green or yellow, black or purple, and white or blue). In the present study, we investigated whether a color bordered by another color (either the same or different) would give rise to stronger taste associations relative to a single patch of color. We replicate previous findings, highlighting the existence of a robust crossmodal correspondence between individual colors and basic tastes. On occasion, color pairs were found to communicate taste expectations more consistently than were single color patches. Furthermore, and in contrast to a recent study in which the color pairs were shown side-by-side, participants took no longer to match the color pairs with tastes than the single colors (they had taken twice as long to respond to the color pairs in the previous study). Possible reasons for these results are discussed, and potential applications for the results, and for the testing methodology developed, are outlined.

  9. Auditory and visual sustained attention in Down syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faught, Gayle G; Conners, Frances A; Himmelberger, Zachary M

    2016-01-01

    Sustained attention (SA) is important to task performance and development of higher functions. It emerges as a separable component of attention during preschool and shows incremental improvements during this stage of development. The current study investigated if auditory and visual SA match developmental level or are particular challenges for youth with DS. Further, we sought to determine if there were modality effects in SA that could predict those seen in short-term memory (STM). We compared youth with DS to typically developing youth matched for nonverbal mental age and receptive vocabulary. Groups completed auditory and visual sustained attention to response tests (SARTs) and STM tasks. Results indicated groups performed similarly on both SARTs, even over varying cognitive ability. Further, within groups participants performed similarly on auditory and visual SARTs, thus SA could not predict modality effects in STM. However, SA did generally predict a significant portion of unique variance in groups' STM. Ultimately, results suggested both auditory and visual SA match developmental level in DS. Further, SA generally predicts STM, though SA does not necessarily predict the pattern of poor auditory relative to visual STM characteristic of DS. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Increased Early Processing of Task-Irrelevant Auditory Stimuli in Older Adults.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erich S Tusch

    Full Text Available The inhibitory deficit hypothesis of cognitive aging posits that older adults' inability to adequately suppress processing of irrelevant information is a major source of cognitive decline. Prior research has demonstrated that in response to task-irrelevant auditory stimuli there is an age-associated increase in the amplitude of the N1 wave, an ERP marker of early perceptual processing. Here, we tested predictions derived from the inhibitory deficit hypothesis that the age-related increase in N1 would be 1 observed under an auditory-ignore, but not auditory-attend condition, 2 attenuated in individuals with high executive capacity (EC, and 3 augmented by increasing cognitive load of the primary visual task. ERPs were measured in 114 well-matched young, middle-aged, young-old, and old-old adults, designated as having high or average EC based on neuropsychological testing. Under the auditory-ignore (visual-attend task, participants ignored auditory stimuli and responded to rare target letters under low and high load. Under the auditory-attend task, participants ignored visual stimuli and responded to rare target tones. Results confirmed an age-associated increase in N1 amplitude to auditory stimuli under the auditory-ignore but not auditory-attend task. Contrary to predictions, EC did not modulate the N1 response. The load effect was the opposite of expectation: the N1 to task-irrelevant auditory events was smaller under high load. Finally, older adults did not simply fail to suppress the N1 to auditory stimuli in the task-irrelevant modality; they generated a larger response than to identical stimuli in the task-relevant modality. In summary, several of the study's findings do not fit the inhibitory-deficit hypothesis of cognitive aging, which may need to be refined or supplemented by alternative accounts.

  11. Task-irrelevant auditory feedback facilitates motor performance in musicians

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Virginia eConde

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available An efficient and fast auditory–motor network is a basic resource for trained musicians due to the importance of motor anticipation of sound production in musical performance. When playing an instrument, motor performance always goes along with the production of sounds and the integration between both modalities plays an essential role in the course of musical training. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of task-irrelevant auditory feedback during motor performance in musicians using a serial reaction time task (SRTT. Our hypothesis was that musicians, due to their extensive auditory–motor practice routine during musical training, have a superior performance and learning capabilities when receiving auditory feedback during SRTT relative to musicians performing the SRTT without any auditory feedback. Here we provide novel evidence that task-irrelevant auditory feedback is capable to reinforce SRTT performance but not learning, a finding that might provide further insight into auditory-motor integration in musicians on a behavioral level.

  12. Neurofeedback in Learning Disabled Children: Visual versus Auditory Reinforcement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernández, Thalía; Bosch-Bayard, Jorge; Harmony, Thalía; Caballero, María I; Díaz-Comas, Lourdes; Galán, Lídice; Ricardo-Garcell, Josefina; Aubert, Eduardo; Otero-Ojeda, Gloria

    2016-03-01

    Children with learning disabilities (LD) frequently have an EEG characterized by an excess of theta and a deficit of alpha activities. NFB using an auditory stimulus as reinforcer has proven to be a useful tool to treat LD children by positively reinforcing decreases of the theta/alpha ratio. The aim of the present study was to optimize the NFB procedure by comparing the efficacy of visual (with eyes open) versus auditory (with eyes closed) reinforcers. Twenty LD children with an abnormally high theta/alpha ratio were randomly assigned to the Auditory or the Visual group, where a 500 Hz tone or a visual stimulus (a white square), respectively, was used as a positive reinforcer when the value of the theta/alpha ratio was reduced. Both groups had signs consistent with EEG maturation, but only the Auditory Group showed behavioral/cognitive improvements. In conclusion, the auditory reinforcer was more efficacious in reducing the theta/alpha ratio, and it improved the cognitive abilities more than the visual reinforcer.

  13. Motor Training: Comparison of Visual and Auditory Coded Proprioceptive Cues

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Philip Jepson

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Self-perception of body posture and movement is achieved through multi-sensory integration, particularly the utilisation of vision, and proprioceptive information derived from muscles and joints. Disruption to these processes can occur following a neurological accident, such as stroke, leading to sensory and physical impairment. Rehabilitation can be helped through use of augmented visual and auditory biofeedback to stimulate neuro-plasticity, but the effective design and application of feedback, particularly in the auditory domain, is non-trivial. Simple auditory feedback was tested by comparing the stepping accuracy of normal subjects when given a visual spatial target (step length and an auditory temporal target (step duration. A baseline measurement of step length and duration was taken using optical motion capture. Subjects (n=20 took 20 ‘training’ steps (baseline ±25% using either an auditory target (950 Hz tone, bell-shaped gain envelope or visual target (spot marked on the floor and were then asked to replicate the target step (length or duration corresponding to training with all feedback removed. Visual cues (mean percentage error=11.5%; SD ± 7.0%; auditory cues (mean percentage error = 12.9%; SD ± 11.8%. Visual cues elicit a high degree of accuracy both in training and follow-up un-cued tasks; despite the novelty of the auditory cues present for subjects, the mean accuracy of subjects approached that for visual cues, and initial results suggest a limited amount of practice using auditory cues can improve performance.

  14. Impact of Educational Level on Performance on Auditory Processing Tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, Cristina F B; Rabelo, Camila M; Silagi, Marcela L; Mansur, Letícia L; Schochat, Eliane

    2016-01-01

    Research has demonstrated that a higher level of education is associated with better performance on cognitive tests among middle-aged and elderly people. However, the effects of education on auditory processing skills have not yet been evaluated. Previous demonstrations of sensory-cognitive interactions in the aging process indicate the potential importance of this topic. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of middle-aged and elderly people with different levels of formal education on auditory processing tests. A total of 177 adults with no evidence of cognitive, psychological or neurological conditions took part in the research. The participants completed a series of auditory assessments, including dichotic digit, frequency pattern and speech-in-noise tests. A working memory test was also performed to investigate the extent to which auditory processing and cognitive performance were associated. The results demonstrated positive but weak correlations between years of schooling and performance on all of the tests applied. The factor "years of schooling" was also one of the best predictors of frequency pattern and speech-in-noise test performance. Additionally, performance on the working memory, frequency pattern and dichotic digit tests was also correlated, suggesting that the influence of educational level on auditory processing performance might be associated with the cognitive demand of the auditory processing tests rather than auditory sensory aspects itself. Longitudinal research is required to investigate the causal relationship between educational level and auditory processing skills.

  15. Normal time course of auditory recognition in schizophrenia, despite impaired precision of the auditory sensory ("echoic") memory code.

    Science.gov (United States)

    March, L; Cienfuegos, A; Goldbloom, L; Ritter, W; Cowan, N; Javitt, D C

    1999-02-01

    Prior studies have demonstrated impaired precision of processing within the auditory sensory memory (ASM) system in schizophrenia. This study used auditory backward masking to evaluate the degree to which such deficits resulted from impaired overall precision versus premature decay of information within the short-term auditory store. ASM performance was evaluated in 14 schizophrenic participants and 16 controls. Schizophrenic participants were severely impaired in their ability to match tones following delay. However, when no-mask performance was equated across participants, schizophrenic participants were no more susceptible to the effects of backward maskers than were controls. Thus, despite impaired precision of ASM performance, schizophrenic participants showed no deficits in the time course over which short-term representations could be used within the ASM system.

  16. A Time-Frequency Auditory Model Using Wavelet Packets

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Agerkvist, Finn

    1996-01-01

    A time-frequency auditory model is presented. The model uses the wavelet packet analysis as the preprocessor. The auditory filters are modelled by the rounded exponential filters, and the excitation is smoothed by a window function. By comparing time-frequency excitation patterns it is shown...... that the change in the time-frequency excitation pattern introduced when a test tone at masked threshold is added to the masker is approximately equal to 7 dB for all types of maskers. The classic detection ratio therefore overrates the detection efficiency of the auditory system....

  17. Auditory agnosia as a clinical symptom of childhood adrenoleukodystrophy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Furushima, Wakana; Kaga, Makiko; Nakamura, Masako; Gunji, Atsuko; Inagaki, Masumi

    2015-08-01

    To investigate detailed auditory features in patients with auditory impairment as the first clinical symptoms of childhood adrenoleukodystrophy (CSALD). Three patients who had hearing difficulty as the first clinical signs and/or symptoms of ALD. Precise examination of the clinical characteristics of hearing and auditory function was performed, including assessments of pure tone audiometry, verbal sound discrimination, otoacoustic emission (OAE), and auditory brainstem response (ABR), as well as an environmental sound discrimination test, a sound lateralization test, and a dichotic listening test (DLT). The auditory pathway was evaluated by MRI in each patient. Poor response to calling was detected in all patients. Two patients were not aware of their hearing difficulty, and had been diagnosed with normal hearing by otolaryngologists at first. Pure-tone audiometry disclosed normal hearing in all patients. All patients showed a normal wave V ABR threshold. Three patients showed obvious difficulty in discriminating verbal sounds, environmental sounds, and sound lateralization and strong left-ear suppression in a dichotic listening test. However, once they discriminated verbal sounds, they correctly understood the meaning. Two patients showed elongation of the I-V and III-V interwave intervals in ABR, but one showed no abnormality. MRIs of these three patients revealed signal changes in auditory radiation including in other subcortical areas. The hearing features of these subjects were diagnosed as auditory agnosia and not aphasia. It should be emphasized that when patients are suspected to have hearing impairment but have no abnormalities in pure tone audiometry and/or ABR, this should not be diagnosed immediately as psychogenic response or pathomimesis, but auditory agnosia must also be considered. Copyright © 2014 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Presentation of dynamically overlapping auditory messages in user interfaces

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Papp, III, Albert Louis [Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)

    1997-09-01

    This dissertation describes a methodology and example implementation for the dynamic regulation of temporally overlapping auditory messages in computer-user interfaces. The regulation mechanism exists to schedule numerous overlapping auditory messages in such a way that each individual message remains perceptually distinct from all others. The method is based on the research conducted in the area of auditory scene analysis. While numerous applications have been engineered to present the user with temporally overlapped auditory output, they have generally been designed without any structured method of controlling the perceptual aspects of the sound. The method of scheduling temporally overlapping sounds has been extended to function in an environment where numerous applications can present sound independently of each other. The Centralized Audio Presentation System is a global regulation mechanism that controls all audio output requests made from all currently running applications. The notion of multimodal objects is explored in this system as well. Each audio request that represents a particular message can include numerous auditory representations, such as musical motives and voice. The Presentation System scheduling algorithm selects the best representation according to the current global auditory system state, and presents it to the user within the request constraints of priority and maximum acceptable latency. The perceptual conflicts between temporally overlapping audio messages are examined in depth through the Computational Auditory Scene Synthesizer. At the heart of this system is a heuristic-based auditory scene synthesis scheduling method. Different schedules of overlapped sounds are evaluated and assigned penalty scores. High scores represent presentations that include perceptual conflicts between over-lapping sounds. Low scores indicate fewer and less serious conflicts. A user study was conducted to validate that the perceptual difficulties predicted by

  19. [Communication and auditory behavior obtained by auditory evoked potentials in mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arch-Tirado, Emilio; Collado-Corona, Miguel Angel; Morales-Martínez, José de Jesús

    2004-01-01

    amphibians, Frog catesbiana (frog bull, 30 animals); reptiles, Sceloporus torcuatus (common small lizard, 22 animals); birds: Columba livia (common dove, 20 animals), and mammals, Cavia porcellus, (guinea pig, 20 animals). With regard to lodging, all animals were maintained at the Institute of Human Communication Disorders, were fed with special food for each species, and had water available ad libitum. Regarding procedure, for carrying out analysis of auditory evoked potentials of brain stem SPL amphibians, birds, and mammals were anesthetized with ketamine 20, 25, and 50 mg/kg, by injection. Reptiles were anesthetized by freezing (6 degrees C). Study subjects had needle electrodes placed in an imaginary line on the half sagittal line between both ears and eyes, behind right ear, and behind left ear. Stimulation was carried out inside a no noise site by means of a horn in free field. The sign was filtered at between 100 and 3,000 Hz and analyzed in a computer for provoked potentials (Racia APE 78). In data shown by amphibians, wave-evoked responses showed greater latency than those of the other species. In reptiles, latency was observed as reduced in comparison with amphibians. In the case of birds, lesser latency values were observed, while in the case of guinea pigs latencies were greater than those of doves but they were stimulated by 10 dB, which demonstrated best auditory threshold in the four studied species. Last, it was corroborated that as the auditory threshold of each species it descends conforms to it advances in the phylogenetic scale. Beginning with these registrations, we care able to say that response for evoked brain stem potential showed to be more complex and lesser values of absolute latency as we advance along the phylogenetic scale; thus, the opposing auditory threshold is better agreement with regard to the phylogenetic scale among studied species. These data indicated to us that seeking of auditory information is more complex in more

  20. Colorism/Neo-Colorism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snell, Joel

    2017-01-01

    There are numerous aspects to being non-Caucasian that may not be known by Whites. Persons of color suggest folks who are African, South Americans, Native Americans, Biracial, Asians and others. The question is what do these individuals feel relative to their color and facial characteristics. Eugene Robinson suggest that the future favorable color…

  1. Neural oscillations in auditory working memory

    OpenAIRE

    Wilsch, A.

    2015-01-01

    The present thesis investigated memory load and memory decay in auditory working memory. Alpha power as a marker for memory load served as the primary indicator for load and decay fluctuations hypothetically reflecting functional inhibition of irrelevant information. Memory load was induced by presenting auditory signals (syllables and pure-tone sequences) in noise because speech-in-noise has been shown before to increase memory load. The aim of the thesis was to assess with magnetoencephalog...

  2. Changes in the Adult Vertebrate Auditory Sensory Epithelium After Trauma

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oesterle, Elizabeth C.

    2012-01-01

    Auditory hair cells transduce sound vibrations into membrane potential changes, ultimately leading to changes in neuronal firing and sound perception. This review provides an overview of the characteristics and repair capabilities of traumatized auditory sensory epithelium in the adult vertebrate ear. Injured mammalian auditory epithelium repairs itself by forming permanent scars but is unable to regenerate replacement hair cells. In contrast, injured non-mammalian vertebrate ear generates replacement hair cells to restore hearing functions. Non-sensory support cells within the auditory epithelium play key roles in the repair processes. PMID:23178236

  3. Luminance contours can gate afterimage colors and "real" colors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anstis, Stuart; Vergeer, Mark; Van Lier, Rob

    2012-09-06

    It has long been known that colored images may elicit afterimages in complementary colors. We have already shown (Van Lier, Vergeer, & Anstis, 2009) that one and the same adapting image may result in different afterimage colors, depending on the test contours presented after the colored image. The color of the afterimage depends on two adapting colors, those both inside and outside the test. Here, we further explore this phenomenon and show that the color-contour interactions shown for afterimage colors also occur for "real" colors. We argue that similar mechanisms apply for both types of stimulation.

  4. Missing a trick: Auditory load modulates conscious awareness in audition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fairnie, Jake; Moore, Brian C J; Remington, Anna

    2016-07-01

    In the visual domain there is considerable evidence supporting the Load Theory of Attention and Cognitive Control, which holds that conscious perception of background stimuli depends on the level of perceptual load involved in a primary task. However, literature on the applicability of this theory to the auditory domain is limited and, in many cases, inconsistent. Here we present a novel "auditory search task" that allows systematic investigation of the impact of auditory load on auditory conscious perception. An array of simultaneous, spatially separated sounds was presented to participants. On half the trials, a critical stimulus was presented concurrently with the array. Participants were asked to detect which of 2 possible targets was present in the array (primary task), and whether the critical stimulus was present or absent (secondary task). Increasing the auditory load of the primary task (raising the number of sounds in the array) consistently reduced the ability to detect the critical stimulus. This indicates that, at least in certain situations, load theory applies in the auditory domain. The implications of this finding are discussed both with respect to our understanding of typical audition and for populations with altered auditory processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  5. No counterpart of visual perceptual echoes in the auditory system.

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    Barkın İlhan

    Full Text Available It has been previously demonstrated by our group that a visual stimulus made of dynamically changing luminance evokes an echo or reverberation at ~10 Hz, lasting up to a second. In this study we aimed to reveal whether similar echoes also exist in the auditory modality. A dynamically changing auditory stimulus equivalent to the visual stimulus was designed and employed in two separate series of experiments, and the presence of reverberations was analyzed based on reverse correlations between stimulus sequences and EEG epochs. The first experiment directly compared visual and auditory stimuli: while previous findings of ~10 Hz visual echoes were verified, no similar echo was found in the auditory modality regardless of frequency. In the second experiment, we tested if auditory sequences would influence the visual echoes when they were congruent or incongruent with the visual sequences. However, the results in that case similarly did not reveal any auditory echoes, nor any change in the characteristics of visual echoes as a function of audio-visual congruence. The negative findings from these experiments suggest that brain oscillations do not equivalently affect early sensory processes in the visual and auditory modalities, and that alpha (8-13 Hz oscillations play a special role in vision.

  6. The Study of Frequency Self Care Strategies against Auditory Hallucinations

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    Mahin Nadem

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Background: In schizophrenic clients, self-care strategies against auditory hallucinations can decrease disturbances results in hallucination. This study was aimed to assess frequency of self-care strategies against auditory hallucinations in paranoid schizophrenic patients, hospitalized in Shafa Hospital.Materials and Method: This was a descriptive study on 201 patients with paranoid schizophrenia hospitalized in psychiatry unit with convenience sampling in Rasht. The gathered data consists of two parts, first unit demographic characteristic and the second part, self- report questionnaire include 38 items about self-care strategies.Results: There were statistically significant relationship between demographic variables and knowledg effect and self-care strategies against auditory hallucinaions. Sex with phisical domain p0.07, marriage status with cognitive domain (p>0.07 and life status with behavioural domain (p>0.01. 53.2% of reported type of our auditory hallucinations were command hallucinations, furtheremore the most effective self-care strategies against auditory hallucinations were from physical domain and substance abuse (82.1% was the most effective strategies in this domain.Conclusion: The client with paranoid schizophrenia used more than physical domain strategies against auditory hallucinaions and this result highlight need those to approprait nursing intervention. Instruction and leading about selection the effective self-care strategies against auditory ha

  7. A eficácia do treinamento auditivo formal em indivíduos com transtorno de processamento auditivo Formal auditory training efficacy in individuals with auditory processing disorder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tatiane Eisencraft Zalcman

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Verificar a eficácia de um programa de Treinamento Auditivo comparando o desempenho inicial, nos testes comportamentais, com o desempenho após o treinamento auditivo aplicado em indivíduos com Transtorno de Processamento Auditivo. MÉTODOS: Participaram do estudo 30 sujeitos com idades entre oito e 16 anos, que passaram por uma avaliação comportamental inicial do processamento auditivo em que foram utilizados dois testes monóticos e dois dicóticos. Posteriormente foram submetidos a um programa de treinamento de auditivo durante oito semanas, a fim de reabilitar as habilidades auditivas encontradas alteradas na avaliação inicial do processamento auditivo e por fim passaram por uma nova avaliação comportamental do processamento auditivo. RESULTADOS: Após o treinamento auditivo houve melhora em todos os testes aplicados. No teste PSI, pré-treinamento auditivo, as crianças, as crianças tinham uma média de acerto de 66,8% que passou para 86,2% após o treinamento auditivo. No teste de fala com ruído, as crianças tinham uma média de acerto de 69,3% pré-treinamento auditivo que passou a ser 80,5% pós-treinamento auditivo. No teste DNV, a média de acerto pré-treinamento auditivo era de 72,6% e passou a ser 91,4%. Finalmente, no teste SSW a treinamento auditivo média de acerto era de 42,2% pré-treinamento auditivo e passou a ser 88,9% pós. CONCLUSÃO: O programa de treinamento auditivo utilizado foi eficaz na reabilitação das habilidades auditivas encontradas alteradas nas crianças com Transtorno de Processamento Auditivo.PURPOSE: To assess the effectiveness of the Auditory Training comparing the performance in the behavioral tests before and after auditory training in individuals with Auditory Processing Disorders. METHODS: Thirty individuals with ages ranging from eight to 16 years were submitted to an auditory processing evaluation, which consisted of two monotic and two dichotic tests. After that, the

  8. Neural Correlates of Realistic and Unrealistic Auditory Space Perception

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Akiko Callan

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Binaural recordings can simulate externalized auditory space perception over headphones. However, if the orientation of the recorder's head and the orientation of the listener's head are incongruent, the simulated auditory space is not realistic. For example, if a person lying flat on a bed listens to an environmental sound that was recorded by microphones inserted in ears of a person who was in an upright position, the sound simulates an auditory space rotated 90 degrees to the real-world horizontal axis. Our question is whether brain activation patterns are different between the unrealistic auditory space (ie, the orientation of the listener's head and the orientation of the recorder's head are incongruent and the realistic auditory space (ie, the orientations are congruent. River sounds that were binaurally recorded either in a supine position or in an upright body position were served as auditory stimuli. During fMRI experiments, participants listen to the stimuli and pressed one of two buttons indicating the direction of the water flow (horizontal/vertical. Behavioral results indicated that participants could not differentiate between the congruent and the incongruent conditions. However, neuroimaging results showed that the congruent condition activated the planum temporale significantly more than the incongruent condition.

  9. Auditory white noise reduces age-related fluctuations in balance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ross, J M; Will, O J; McGann, Z; Balasubramaniam, R

    2016-09-06

    Fall prevention technologies have the potential to improve the lives of older adults. Because of the multisensory nature of human balance control, sensory therapies, including some involving tactile and auditory noise, are being explored that might reduce increased balance variability due to typical age-related sensory declines. Auditory white noise has previously been shown to reduce postural sway variability in healthy young adults. In the present experiment, we examined this treatment in young adults and typically aging older adults. We measured postural sway of healthy young adults and adults over the age of 65 years during silence and auditory white noise, with and without vision. Our results show reduced postural sway variability in young and older adults with auditory noise, even in the absence of vision. We show that vision and noise can reduce sway variability for both feedback-based and exploratory balance processes. In addition, we show changes with auditory noise in nonlinear patterns of sway in older adults that reflect what is more typical of young adults, and these changes did not interfere with the typical random walk behavior of sway. Our results suggest that auditory noise might be valuable for therapeutic and rehabilitative purposes in older adults with typical age-related balance variability. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Using Single Colors and Color Pairs to Communicate Basic Tastes II: Foreground–Background Color Combinations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marmolejo-Ramos, Fernando; Velasco, Carlos; Spence, Charles

    2016-01-01

    People associate basic tastes (e.g., sweet, sour, bitter, and salty) with specific colors (e.g., pink or red, green or yellow, black or purple, and white or blue). In the present study, we investigated whether a color bordered by another color (either the same or different) would give rise to stronger taste associations relative to a single patch of color. We replicate previous findings, highlighting the existence of a robust crossmodal correspondence between individual colors and basic tastes. On occasion, color pairs were found to communicate taste expectations more consistently than were single color patches. Furthermore, and in contrast to a recent study in which the color pairs were shown side-by-side, participants took no longer to match the color pairs with tastes than the single colors (they had taken twice as long to respond to the color pairs in the previous study). Possible reasons for these results are discussed, and potential applications for the results, and for the testing methodology developed, are outlined. PMID:27708752

  11. Significance of bone changes at the meatus acusticus internus in tumours of the auditory nerve and in the 'empty' extended internal auditory meatus

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grehn, S.

    1988-06-01

    The unilateral extension of shortening of the internal auditory meatus is a very safe bony sign of the presence of a neurinoma of the auditory nerve. Differential diagnosis is necessary to exclude an 'empty' extended internal auditory meatus. On the other hand, 31% of the definitely established neurinomas do not show up in the plain tomogram. These facts prove that despite the presence or absence of allegedly definite bony changes at the internal auditory meatus further diagnostic measures are imperative, especially an air meatography in conjunction with high resolution computed tomography.

  12. Efficient image enhancement using sparse source separation in the Retinex theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoon, Jongsu; Choi, Jangwon; Choe, Yoonsik

    2017-11-01

    Color constancy is the feature of the human vision system (HVS) that ensures the relative constancy of the perceived color of objects under varying illumination conditions. The Retinex theory of machine vision systems is based on the HVS. Among Retinex algorithms, the physics-based algorithms are efficient; however, they generally do not satisfy the local characteristics of the original Retinex theory because they eliminate global illumination from their optimization. We apply the sparse source separation technique to the Retinex theory to present a physics-based algorithm that satisfies the locality characteristic of the original Retinex theory. Previous Retinex algorithms have limited use in image enhancement because the total variation Retinex results in an overly enhanced image and the sparse source separation Retinex cannot completely restore the original image. In contrast, our proposed method preserves the image edge and can very nearly replicate the original image without any special operation.

  13. From sensation to percept: the neural signature of auditory event-related potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joos, Kathleen; Gilles, Annick; Van de Heyning, Paul; De Ridder, Dirk; Vanneste, Sven

    2014-05-01

    An external auditory stimulus induces an auditory sensation which may lead to a conscious auditory perception. Although the sensory aspect is well known, it is still a question how an auditory stimulus results in an individual's conscious percept. To unravel the uncertainties concerning the neural correlates of a conscious auditory percept, event-related potentials may serve as a useful tool. In the current review we mainly wanted to shed light on the perceptual aspects of auditory processing and therefore we mainly focused on the auditory late-latency responses. Moreover, there is increasing evidence that perception is an active process in which the brain searches for the information it expects to be present, suggesting that auditory perception requires the presence of both bottom-up, i.e. sensory and top-down, i.e. prediction-driven processing. Therefore, the auditory evoked potentials will be interpreted in the context of the Bayesian brain model, in which the brain predicts which information it expects and when this will happen. The internal representation of the auditory environment will be verified by sensation samples of the environment (P50, N100). When this incoming information violates the expectation, it will induce the emission of a prediction error signal (Mismatch Negativity), activating higher-order neural networks and inducing the update of prior internal representations of the environment (P300). Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Auditory evacuation beacons

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wijngaarden, S.J. van; Bronkhorst, A.W.; Boer, L.C.

    2005-01-01

    Auditory evacuation beacons can be used to guide people to safe exits, even when vision is totally obscured by smoke. Conventional beacons make use of modulated noise signals. Controlled evacuation experiments show that such signals require explicit instructions and are often misunderstood. A new

  15. Depth-Dependent Temporal Response Properties in Core Auditory Cortex

    OpenAIRE

    Christianson, G. Björn; Sahani, Maneesh; Linden, Jennifer F.

    2011-01-01

    The computational role of cortical layers within auditory cortex has proven difficult to establish. One hypothesis is that interlaminar cortical processing might be dedicated to analyzing temporal properties of sounds; if so, then there should be systematic depth-dependent changes in cortical sensitivity to the temporal context in which a stimulus occurs. We recorded neural responses simultaneously across cortical depth in primary auditory cortex and anterior auditory field of CBA/Ca mice, an...

  16. Gymnasts utilize visual and auditory information for behavioural synchronization in trampolining.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heinen, T; Koschnick, J; Schmidt-Maaß, D; Vinken, P M

    2014-08-01

    In synchronized trampolining, two gymnasts perform the same routine at the same time. While trained gymnasts are thought to coordinate their own movements with the movements of another gymnast by detecting relevant movement information, the question arises how visual and auditory information contribute to the emergence of synchronicity between both gymnasts. Therefore the aim of this study was to examine the role of visual and auditory information in the emergence of coordinated behaviour in synchronized trampolining. Twenty female gymnasts were asked to synchronize their leaps with the leaps of a model gymnast, while visual and auditory information was manipulated. The results revealed that gymnasts needed more leaps to reach synchronicity when only either auditory (12.9 leaps) or visual information (10.8 leaps) was available, as compared to when both auditory and visual information was available (8.1 leaps). It is concluded that visual and auditory information play significant roles in synchronized trampolining, whilst visual information seems to be the dominant source for emerging behavioural synchronization, and auditory information supports this emergence.

  17. Synchronization with competing visual and auditory rhythms: bouncing ball meets metronome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hove, Michael J; Iversen, John R; Zhang, Allen; Repp, Bruno H

    2013-07-01

    Synchronization of finger taps with periodically flashing visual stimuli is known to be much more variable than synchronization with an auditory metronome. When one of these rhythms is the synchronization target and the other serves as a distracter at various temporal offsets, strong auditory dominance is observed. However, it has recently been shown that visuomotor synchronization improves substantially with moving stimuli such as a continuously bouncing ball. The present study pitted a bouncing ball against an auditory metronome in a target-distracter synchronization paradigm, with the participants being auditory experts (musicians) and visual experts (video gamers and ball players). Synchronization was still less variable with auditory than with visual target stimuli in both groups. For musicians, auditory stimuli tended to be more distracting than visual stimuli, whereas the opposite was the case for the visual experts. Overall, there was no main effect of distracter modality. Thus, a distracting spatiotemporal visual rhythm can be as effective as a distracting auditory rhythm in its capacity to perturb synchronous movement, but its effectiveness also depends on modality-specific expertise.

  18. Multiple time scales of adaptation in auditory cortex neurons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ulanovsky, Nachum; Las, Liora; Farkas, Dina; Nelken, Israel

    2004-11-17

    Neurons in primary auditory cortex (A1) of cats show strong stimulus-specific adaptation (SSA). In probabilistic settings, in which one stimulus is common and another is rare, responses to common sounds adapt more strongly than responses to rare sounds. This SSA could be a correlate of auditory sensory memory at the level of single A1 neurons. Here we studied adaptation in A1 neurons, using three different probabilistic designs. We showed that SSA has several time scales concurrently, spanning many orders of magnitude, from hundreds of milliseconds to tens of seconds. Similar time scales are known for the auditory memory span of humans, as measured both psychophysically and using evoked potentials. A simple model, with linear dependence on both short-term and long-term stimulus history, provided a good fit to A1 responses. Auditory thalamus neurons did not show SSA, and their responses were poorly fitted by the same model. In addition, SSA increased the proportion of failures in the responses of A1 neurons to the adapting stimulus. Finally, SSA caused a bias in the neuronal responses to unbiased stimuli, enhancing the responses to eccentric stimuli. Therefore, we propose that a major function of SSA in A1 neurons is to encode auditory sensory memory on multiple time scales. This SSA might play a role in stream segregation and in binding of auditory objects over many time scales, a property that is crucial for processing of natural auditory scenes in cats and of speech and music in humans.

  19. Translation and adaptation of functional auditory performance indicators (FAPI

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karina Ferreira

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Work with deaf children has gained new attention since the expectation and goal of therapy has expanded to language development and subsequent language learning. Many clinical tests were developed for evaluation of speech sound perception in young children in response to the need for accurate assessment of hearing skills that developed from the use of individual hearing aids or cochlear implants. These tests also allow the evaluation of the rehabilitation program. However, few of these tests are available in Portuguese. Evaluation with the Functional Auditory Performance Indicators (FAPI generates a child's functional auditory skills profile, which lists auditory skills in an integrated and hierarchical order. It has seven hierarchical categories, including sound awareness, meaningful sound, auditory feedback, sound source localizing, auditory discrimination, short-term auditory memory, and linguistic auditory processing. FAPI evaluation allows the therapist to map the child's hearing profile performance, determine the target for increasing the hearing abilities, and develop an effective therapeutic plan. Objective: Since the FAPI is an American test, the inventory was adapted for application in the Brazilian population. Material and Methods: The translation was done following the steps of translation and back translation, and reproducibility was evaluated. Four translated versions (two originals and two back-translated were compared, and revisions were done to ensure language adaptation and grammatical and idiomatic equivalence. Results: The inventory was duly translated and adapted. Conclusion: Further studies about the application of the translated FAPI are necessary to make the test practicable in Brazilian clinical use.

  20. Color adaptation induced from linguistic description of color.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liling Zheng

    Full Text Available Recent theories propose that language comprehension can influence perception at the low level of perceptual system. Here, we used an adaptation paradigm to test whether processing language caused color adaptation in the visual system. After prolonged exposure to a color linguistic context, which depicted red, green, or non-specific color scenes, participants immediately performed a color detection task, indicating whether they saw a green color square in the middle of a white screen or not. We found that participants were more likely to perceive the green color square after listening to discourses denoting red compared to discourses denoting green or conveying non-specific color information, revealing that language comprehension caused an adaptation aftereffect at the perceptual level. Therefore, semantic representation of color may have a common neural substrate with color perception. These results are in line with the simulation view of embodied language comprehension theory, which predicts that processing language reactivates the sensorimotor systems that are engaged during real experience.

  1. Motor-related signals in the auditory system for listening and learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneider, David M; Mooney, Richard

    2015-08-01

    In the auditory system, corollary discharge signals are theorized to facilitate normal hearing and the learning of acoustic behaviors, including speech and music. Despite clear evidence of corollary discharge signals in the auditory cortex and their presumed importance for hearing and auditory-guided motor learning, the circuitry and function of corollary discharge signals in the auditory cortex are not well described. In this review, we focus on recent developments in the mouse and songbird that provide insights into the circuitry that transmits corollary discharge signals to the auditory system and the function of these signals in the context of hearing and vocal learning. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. In search of an auditory engram

    OpenAIRE

    Fritz, Jonathan; Mishkin, Mortimer; Saunders, Richard C.

    2005-01-01

    Monkeys trained preoperatively on a task designed to assess auditory recognition memory were impaired after removal of either the rostral superior temporal gyrus or the medial temporal lobe but were unaffected by lesions of the rhinal cortex. Behavioral analysis indicated that this result occurred because the monkeys did not or could not use long-term auditory recognition, and so depended instead on short-term working memory, which is unaffected by rhinal lesions. The findings suggest that mo...

  3. Cheirolophus intybaceus (Asteraceae, Centaureinae or the constancy of 2C value

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sánchez-Jiménez, I.

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Cheirolophus intybaceus (Asteraceae, Centaureinae or the constancy of 2C value.- Cheirolophus intybaceus is a heliophyte growing in thermal Mediterranean scrublands along a coastal belt of 50 km large, stretching from Toulon (France to the Southern part of the Iberian Peninsula, occurring also in the Balearic Islands (with the exception of Minorca. Moreover, this species is also growing in high and sunny lands in the Mediterranean river basins, constituting a complex of taxa closely related among them. The objectives of this work are: i to provide new genome size data for some Asteraceae species; ii to study the variation of DNA amount along a species distribution area; iii to evaluate the discrimination capability of this parameter at low taxonomic levels. A signicantly positive correlation between the DNA amount and the latitude has been found, that is, in drier and warmer habitats genome size tends to decrease in this species. The variation in the whole distribution area of Ch. intybaceus is 1.15-fold. This low variability supports the constancy of 2C-value.

    Cheirolophus intybaceus es una especie heliófila propia de los matorrales mediterráneos termófilos que crece en una franja litoral de unos 50 km de anchura que va desde Tolón (Var, Francia hasta el sur de la península Ibérica, estando también presente en las islas Baleares (excepto en Menorca. Se encuentra también en las zonas elevadas y soleadas de las cuencas fluviales mediterráneas, formando un complejo de táxones estrechamente relacionados entre sí. Los objetivos de este trabajo son: i contribuir a la aportación de datos de tamaño del genoma para diversas especies de Asteraceae; ii estudiar la variación de la cantidad de ADN a lo largo del área de distribución de una especie; iii evaluar la capacidad de discriminación de este parámetro a niveles taxonómicos bajos. Se ha encontrado una correlación positiva y significativa entre la

  4. Shift Colors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Publications & News Shift Colors Pages default Sign In NPC Logo Banner : Shift Colors Search Navy Personnel Command > Reference Library > Publications & News > Shift Colors Top Link Bar Navy Personnel Library Expand Reference Library Quick Launch Shift Colors Shift Colors Archives Mailing Address How to

  5. The Role of Auditory Cues in the Spatial Knowledge of Blind Individuals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papadopoulos, Konstantinos; Papadimitriou, Kimon; Koutsoklenis, Athanasios

    2012-01-01

    The study presented here sought to explore the role of auditory cues in the spatial knowledge of blind individuals by examining the relation between the perceived auditory cues and the landscape of a given area and by investigating how blind individuals use auditory cues to create cognitive maps. The findings reveal that several auditory cues…

  6. An extended research of crossmodal correspondence between color and sound in psychology and cognitive ergonomics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Xiuwen; Ji, Lingyu; Han, Feng; Wang, Huifen; Liu, Yang; Chen, Yao; Lou, Zhiyuan; Li, Zhuoyun

    2018-01-01

    Based on the existing research on sound symbolism and crossmodal correspondence, this study proposed an extended research on cross-modal correspondence between various sound attributes and color properties in a group of non-synesthetes. In Experiment 1, we assessed the associations between each property of sounds and colors. Twenty sounds with five auditory properties (pitch, roughness, sharpness, tempo and discontinuity), each varied in four levels, were used as the sound stimuli. Forty-nine colors with different hues, saturation and brightness were used to match to those sounds. Result revealed that besides pitch and tempo, roughness and sharpness also played roles in sound-color correspondence. Reaction times of sound-hue were a little longer than the reaction times of sound-lightness. In Experiment 2, a speeded target discrimination task was used to assess whether the associations between sound attributes and color properties could invoke natural cross-modal correspondence and improve participants’ cognitive efficiency in cognitive tasks. Several typical sound-color pairings were selected according to the results of Experiment 1. Participants were divided into two groups (congruent and incongruent). In each trial participants had to judge whether the presented color could appropriately be associated with the sound stimuli. Result revealed that participants responded more quickly and accurately in the congruent group than in the incongruent group. It was also found that there was no significant difference in reaction times and error rates between sound-hue and sound-lightness. The results of Experiment 1 and 2 indicate the existence of a robust crossmodal correspondence between multiple attributes of sound and color, which also has strong influence on cognitive tasks. The inconsistency of the reaction times between sound-hue and sound-lightness in Experiment 1 and 2 is probably owing to the difference in experimental protocol, which indicates that the

  7. An extended research of crossmodal correspondence between color and sound in psychology and cognitive ergonomics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiuwen Sun

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Based on the existing research on sound symbolism and crossmodal correspondence, this study proposed an extended research on cross-modal correspondence between various sound attributes and color properties in a group of non-synesthetes. In Experiment 1, we assessed the associations between each property of sounds and colors. Twenty sounds with five auditory properties (pitch, roughness, sharpness, tempo and discontinuity, each varied in four levels, were used as the sound stimuli. Forty-nine colors with different hues, saturation and brightness were used to match to those sounds. Result revealed that besides pitch and tempo, roughness and sharpness also played roles in sound-color correspondence. Reaction times of sound-hue were a little longer than the reaction times of sound-lightness. In Experiment 2, a speeded target discrimination task was used to assess whether the associations between sound attributes and color properties could invoke natural cross-modal correspondence and improve participants’ cognitive efficiency in cognitive tasks. Several typical sound-color pairings were selected according to the results of Experiment 1. Participants were divided into two groups (congruent and incongruent. In each trial participants had to judge whether the presented color could appropriately be associated with the sound stimuli. Result revealed that participants responded more quickly and accurately in the congruent group than in the incongruent group. It was also found that there was no significant difference in reaction times and error rates between sound-hue and sound-lightness. The results of Experiment 1 and 2 indicate the existence of a robust crossmodal correspondence between multiple attributes of sound and color, which also has strong influence on cognitive tasks. The inconsistency of the reaction times between sound-hue and sound-lightness in Experiment 1 and 2 is probably owing to the difference in experimental protocol, which indicates

  8. Auditory interfaces in automated driving: an international survey

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bazilinskyy, P.; de Winter, J.C.F.

    2015-01-01

    This study investigated peoples’ opinion on auditory interfaces in contemporary
    cars and their willingness to be exposed to auditory feedback in automated driving. We used an Internet-based survey to collect 1,205 responses from 91 countries. The respondents stated their attitudes towards two

  9. Basic Auditory Processing and Developmental Dyslexia in Chinese

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Hsiao-Lan Sharon; Huss, Martina; Hamalainen, Jarmo A.; Goswami, Usha

    2012-01-01

    The present study explores the relationship between basic auditory processing of sound rise time, frequency, duration and intensity, phonological skills (onset-rime and tone awareness, sound blending, RAN, and phonological memory) and reading disability in Chinese. A series of psychometric, literacy, phonological, auditory, and character…

  10. Entrainment to an auditory signal: Is attention involved?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kunert, R.; Jongman, S.R.

    2017-01-01

    Many natural auditory signals, including music and language, change periodically. The effect of such auditory rhythms on the brain is unclear however. One widely held view, dynamic attending theory, proposes that the attentional system entrains to the rhythm and increases attention at moments of

  11. Music and the auditory brain: where is the connection?

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    Israel eNelken

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available Sound processing by the auditory system is understood in unprecedented details, even compared with sensory coding in the visual system. Nevertheless, we don't understand yet the way in which some of the simplest perceptual properties of sounds are coded in neuronal activity. This poses serious difficulties for linking neuronal responses in the auditory system and music processing, since music operates on abstract representations of sounds. Paradoxically, although perceptual representations of sounds most probably occur high in auditory system or even beyond it, neuronal responses are strongly affected by the temporal organization of sound streams even in subcortical stations. Thus, to the extent that music is organized sound, it is the organization, rather than the sound, which is represented first in the auditory brain.

  12. Natural Colorants: Food Colorants from Natural Sources.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sigurdson, Gregory T; Tang, Peipei; Giusti, M Mónica

    2017-02-28

    The color of food is often associated with the flavor, safety, and nutritional value of the product. Synthetic food colorants have been used because of their high stability and low cost. However, consumer perception and demand have driven the replacement of synthetic colorants with naturally derived alternatives. Natural pigment applications can be limited by lower stability, weaker tinctorial strength, interactions with food ingredients, and inability to match desired hues. Therefore, no single naturally derived colorant can serve as a universal alternative for a specified synthetic colorant in all applications. This review summarizes major environmental and biological sources for natural colorants as well as nature-identical counterparts. Chemical characteristics of prevalent pigments, including anthocyanins, carotenoids, betalains, and chlorophylls, are described. The possible applications and hues (warm, cool, and achromatic) of currently used natural pigments, such as anthocyanins as red and blue colorants, and possible future alternatives, such as purple violacein and red pyranoanthocyanins, are also discussed.

  13. Trait aspects of auditory mismatch negativity predict response to auditory training in individuals with early illness schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biagianti, Bruno; Roach, Brian J; Fisher, Melissa; Loewy, Rachel; Ford, Judith M; Vinogradov, Sophia; Mathalon, Daniel H

    2017-01-01

    Individuals with schizophrenia have heterogeneous impairments of the auditory processing system that likely mediate differences in the cognitive gains induced by auditory training (AT). Mismatch negativity (MMN) is an event-related potential component reflecting auditory echoic memory, and its amplitude reduction in schizophrenia has been linked to cognitive deficits. Therefore, MMN may predict response to AT and identify individuals with schizophrenia who have the most to gain from AT. Furthermore, to the extent that AT strengthens auditory deviance processing, MMN may also serve as a readout of the underlying changes in the auditory system induced by AT. Fifty-six individuals early in the course of a schizophrenia-spectrum illness (ESZ) were randomly assigned to 40 h of AT or Computer Games (CG). Cognitive assessments and EEG recordings during a multi-deviant MMN paradigm were obtained before and after AT and CG. Changes in these measures were compared between the treatment groups. Baseline and trait-like MMN data were evaluated as predictors of treatment response. MMN data collected with the same paradigm from a sample of Healthy Controls (HC; n = 105) were compared to baseline MMN data from the ESZ group. Compared to HC, ESZ individuals showed significant MMN reductions at baseline ( p = .003). Reduced Double-Deviant MMN was associated with greater general cognitive impairment in ESZ individuals ( p = .020). Neither ESZ intervention group showed significant change in MMN. We found high correlations in all MMN deviant types (rs = .59-.68, all ps < .001) between baseline and post-intervention amplitudes irrespective of treatment group, suggesting trait-like stability of the MMN signal. Greater deficits in trait-like Double-Deviant MMN predicted greater cognitive improvements in the AT group ( p = .02), but not in the CG group. In this sample of ESZ individuals, AT had no effect on auditory deviance processing as assessed by MMN. In ESZ individuals, baseline MMN

  14. Peripheral Auditory Mechanisms

    CERN Document Server

    Hall, J; Hubbard, A; Neely, S; Tubis, A

    1986-01-01

    How weIl can we model experimental observations of the peripheral auditory system'? What theoretical predictions can we make that might be tested'? It was with these questions in mind that we organized the 1985 Mechanics of Hearing Workshop, to bring together auditory researchers to compare models with experimental observations. Tbe workshop forum was inspired by the very successful 1983 Mechanics of Hearing Workshop in Delft [1]. Boston University was chosen as the site of our meeting because of the Boston area's role as a center for hearing research in this country. We made a special effort at this meeting to attract students from around the world, because without students this field will not progress. Financial support for the workshop was provided in part by grant BNS- 8412878 from the National Science Foundation. Modeling is a traditional strategy in science and plays an important role in the scientific method. Models are the bridge between theory and experiment. Tbey test the assumptions made in experim...

  15. Auditory comprehension: from the voice up to the single word level

    OpenAIRE

    Jones, Anna Barbara

    2016-01-01

    Auditory comprehension, the ability to understand spoken language, consists of a number of different auditory processing skills. In the five studies presented in this thesis I investigated both intact and impaired auditory comprehension at different levels: voice versus phoneme perception, as well as single word auditory comprehension in terms of phonemic and semantic content. In the first study, using sounds from different continua of ‘male’-/pæ/ to ‘female’-/tæ/ and ‘male’...

  16. Auditory beat stimulation and its effects on cognition and mood states

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leila eChaieb

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Auditory beat stimulation may be a promising new tool for the manipulation of cognitive processes and the modulation of mood-states. Here we aim to review the literature examining the most current applications of auditory beat stimulation and its targets. We give a brief overview of research on auditory steady-state responses and its relationship to auditory beat stimulation. We have summarized relevant studies investigating the neurophysiological changes related to auditory beat stimulation and how they impact upon the design of appropriate stimulation protocols. Focusing on binaural beat stimulation, we then discuss the role of monaural and binaural beat frequencies in cognition and mood-states, in addition to their efficacy in targeting disease symptoms. We aim to highlight important points concerning stimulation parameters and try to address why there are often contradictory findings with regard to the outcomes of auditory beat stimulation.

  17. Category-specific responses to faces and objects in primate auditory cortex

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    Kari L Hoffman

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available Auditory and visual signals often occur together, and the two sensory channels are known to infl uence each other to facilitate perception. The neural basis of this integration is not well understood, although other forms of multisensory infl uences have been shown to occur at surprisingly early stages of processing in cortex. Primary visual cortex neurons can show frequency-tuning to auditory stimuli, and auditory cortex responds selectively to certain somatosensory stimuli, supporting the possibility that complex visual signals may modulate early stages of auditory processing. To elucidate which auditory regions, if any, are responsive to complex visual stimuli, we recorded from auditory cortex and the superior temporal sulcus while presenting visual stimuli consisting of various objects, neutral faces, and facial expressions generated during vocalization. Both objects and conspecifi c faces elicited robust fi eld potential responses in auditory cortex sites, but the responses varied by category: both neutral and vocalizing faces had a highly consistent negative component (N100 followed by a broader positive component (P180 whereas object responses were more variable in time and shape, but could be discriminated consistently from the responses to faces. The face response did not vary within the face category, i.e., for expressive vs. neutral face stimuli. The presence of responses for both objects and neutral faces suggests that auditory cortex receives highly informative visual input that is not restricted to those stimuli associated with auditory components. These results reveal selectivity for complex visual stimuli in a brain region conventionally described as non-visual unisensory cortex.

  18. Auditory Processing Testing: In the Booth versus Outside the Booth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucker, Jay R

    2017-09-01

    Many audiologists believe that auditory processing testing must be carried out in a soundproof booth. This expectation is especially a problem in places such as elementary schools. Research comparing pure-tone thresholds obtained in sound booths compared to quiet test environments outside of these booths does not support that belief. Auditory processing testing is generally carried out at above threshold levels, and therefore may be even less likely to require a soundproof booth. The present study was carried out to compare test results in soundproof booths versus quiet rooms. The purpose of this study was to determine whether auditory processing tests can be administered in a quiet test room rather than in the soundproof test suite. The outcomes would identify that audiologists can provide auditory processing testing for children under various test conditions including quiet rooms at their school. A battery of auditory processing tests was administered at a test level equivalent to 50 dB HL through headphones. The same equipment was used for testing in both locations. Twenty participants identified with normal hearing were included in this study, ten having no auditory processing concerns and ten exhibiting auditory processing problems. All participants underwent a battery of tests, both inside the test booth and outside the booth in a quiet room. Order of testing (inside versus outside) was counterbalanced. Participants were first determined to have normal hearing thresholds for tones and speech. Auditory processing tests were recorded and presented from an HP EliteBook laptop computer with noise-canceling headphones attached to a y-cord that not only presented the test stimuli to the participants but also allowed monitor headphones to be worn by the evaluator. The same equipment was used inside as well as outside the booth. No differences were found for each auditory processing measure as a function of the test setting or the order in which testing was done

  19. Temporal factors affecting somatosensory-auditory interactions in speech processing

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    Takayuki eIto

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Speech perception is known to rely on both auditory and visual information. However, sound specific somatosensory input has been shown also to influence speech perceptual processing (Ito et al., 2009. In the present study we addressed further the relationship between somatosensory information and speech perceptual processing by addressing the hypothesis that the temporal relationship between orofacial movement and sound processing contributes to somatosensory-auditory interaction in speech perception. We examined the changes in event-related potentials in response to multisensory synchronous (simultaneous and asynchronous (90 ms lag and lead somatosensory and auditory stimulation compared to individual unisensory auditory and somatosensory stimulation alone. We used a robotic device to apply facial skin somatosensory deformations that were similar in timing and duration to those experienced in speech production. Following synchronous multisensory stimulation the amplitude of the event-related potential was reliably different from the two unisensory potentials. More importantly, the magnitude of the event-related potential difference varied as a function of the relative timing of the somatosensory-auditory stimulation. Event-related activity change due to stimulus timing was seen between 160-220 ms following somatosensory onset, mostly around the parietal area. The results demonstrate a dynamic modulation of somatosensory-auditory convergence and suggest the contribution of somatosensory information for speech processing process is dependent on the specific temporal order of sensory inputs in speech production.

  20. Primate auditory recognition memory performance varies with sound type.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ng, Chi-Wing; Plakke, Bethany; Poremba, Amy

    2009-10-01

    Neural correlates of auditory processing, including for species-specific vocalizations that convey biological and ethological significance (e.g., social status, kinship, environment), have been identified in a wide variety of areas including the temporal and frontal cortices. However, few studies elucidate how non-human primates interact with these vocalization signals when they are challenged by tasks requiring auditory discrimination, recognition and/or memory. The present study employs a delayed matching-to-sample task with auditory stimuli to examine auditory memory performance of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), wherein two sounds are determined to be the same or different. Rhesus macaques seem to have relatively poor short-term memory with auditory stimuli, and we examine if particular sound types are more favorable for memory performance. Experiment 1 suggests memory performance with vocalization sound types (particularly monkey), are significantly better than when using non-vocalization sound types, and male monkeys outperform female monkeys overall. Experiment 2, controlling for number of sound exemplars and presentation pairings across types, replicates Experiment 1, demonstrating better performance or decreased response latencies, depending on trial type, to species-specific monkey vocalizations. The findings cannot be explained by acoustic differences between monkey vocalizations and the other sound types, suggesting the biological, and/or ethological meaning of these sounds are more effective for auditory memory. 2009 Elsevier B.V.

  1. Towards an auditory account of speech rhythm: application of a model of the auditory 'primal sketch' to two multi-language corpora.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Christopher S; Todd, Neil P McAngus

    2004-10-01

    The world's languages display important differences in their rhythmic organization; most particularly, different languages seem to privilege different phonological units (mora, syllable, or stress foot) as their basic rhythmic unit. There is now considerable evidence that such differences have important consequences for crucial aspects of language acquisition and processing. Several questions remain, however, as to what exactly characterizes the rhythmic differences, how they are manifested at an auditory/acoustic level and how listeners, whether adult native speakers or young infants, process rhythmic information. In this paper it is proposed that the crucial determinant of rhythmic organization is the variability in the auditory prominence of phonetic events. In order to test this auditory prominence hypothesis, an auditory model is run on two multi-language data-sets, the first consisting of matched pairs of English and French sentences, and the second consisting of French, Italian, English and Dutch sentences. The model is based on a theory of the auditory primal sketch, and generates a primitive representation of an acoustic signal (the rhythmogram) which yields a crude segmentation of the speech signal and assigns prominence values to the obtained sequence of events. Its performance is compared with that of several recently proposed phonetic measures of vocalic and consonantal variability.

  2. The spectrotemporal filter mechanism of auditory selective attention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lakatos, Peter; Musacchia, Gabriella; O’Connell, Monica N.; Falchier, Arnaud Y.; Javitt, Daniel C.; Schroeder, Charles E.

    2013-01-01

    SUMMARY While we have convincing evidence that attention to auditory stimuli modulates neuronal responses at or before the level of primary auditory cortex (A1), the underlying physiological mechanisms are unknown. We found that attending to rhythmic auditory streams resulted in the entrainment of ongoing oscillatory activity reflecting rhythmic excitability fluctuations in A1. Strikingly, while the rhythm of the entrained oscillations in A1 neuronal ensembles reflected the temporal structure of the attended stream, the phase depended on the attended frequency content. Counter-phase entrainment across differently tuned A1 regions resulted in both the amplification and sharpening of responses at attended time points, in essence acting as a spectrotemporal filter mechanism. Our data suggest that selective attention generates a dynamically evolving model of attended auditory stimulus streams in the form of modulatory subthreshold oscillations across tonotopically organized neuronal ensembles in A1 that enhances the representation of attended stimuli. PMID:23439126

  3. Preschool-Age Children and Adults Flexibly Shift Their Preferences for Auditory versus Visual Modalities but Do Not Exhibit Auditory Dominance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noles, Nicholaus S.; Gelman, Susan A.

    2012-01-01

    The goal of this study was to evaluate the claim that young children display preferences for auditory stimuli over visual stimuli. This study was motivated by concerns that the visual stimuli employed in prior studies were considerably more complex and less distinctive than the competing auditory stimuli, resulting in an illusory preference for…

  4. Colors, colored overlays, and reading skills

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arcangelo eUccula

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available In this article, we are concerned with the role of colors in reading written texts. It has been argued that colored overlays applied above written texts positively influence both reading fluency and reading speed. These effects would be particularly evident for those individuals affected by the so called Meares-Irlen syndrome, i.e. who experience eyestrain and/or visual distortions – e.g. color, shape or movement illusions – while reading. This condition would interest the 12-14% of the general population and up to the 46% of the dyslexic population. Thus, colored overlays have been largely employed as a remedy for some aspects of the difficulties in reading experienced by dyslexic individuals, as fluency and speed. Despite the wide use of colored overlays, how they exert their effects has not been made clear yet. Also, according to some researchers, the results supporting the efficacy of colored overlays as a tool for helping readers are at least controversial. Furthermore, the very nature of the Meares-Irlen syndrome has been questioned. Here we provide a concise, critical review of the literature.

  5. Integration and segregation in auditory scene analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sussman, Elyse S.

    2005-03-01

    Assessment of the neural correlates of auditory scene analysis, using an index of sound change detection that does not require the listener to attend to the sounds [a component of event-related brain potentials called the mismatch negativity (MMN)], has previously demonstrated that segregation processes can occur without attention focused on the sounds and that within-stream contextual factors influence how sound elements are integrated and represented in auditory memory. The current study investigated the relationship between the segregation and integration processes when they were called upon to function together. The pattern of MMN results showed that the integration of sound elements within a sound stream occurred after the segregation of sounds into independent streams and, further, that the individual streams were subject to contextual effects. These results are consistent with a view of auditory processing that suggests that the auditory scene is rapidly organized into distinct streams and the integration of sequential elements to perceptual units takes place on the already formed streams. This would allow for the flexibility required to identify changing within-stream sound patterns, needed to appreciate music or comprehend speech..

  6. Multivariate sensitivity to voice during auditory categorization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Yune Sang; Peelle, Jonathan E; Kraemer, David; Lloyd, Samuel; Granger, Richard

    2015-09-01

    Past neuroimaging studies have documented discrete regions of human temporal cortex that are more strongly activated by conspecific voice sounds than by nonvoice sounds. However, the mechanisms underlying this voice sensitivity remain unclear. In the present functional MRI study, we took a novel approach to examining voice sensitivity, in which we applied a signal detection paradigm to the assessment of multivariate pattern classification among several living and nonliving categories of auditory stimuli. Within this framework, voice sensitivity can be interpreted as a distinct neural representation of brain activity that correctly distinguishes human vocalizations from other auditory object categories. Across a series of auditory categorization tests, we found that bilateral superior and middle temporal cortex consistently exhibited robust sensitivity to human vocal sounds. Although the strongest categorization was in distinguishing human voice from other categories, subsets of these regions were also able to distinguish reliably between nonhuman categories, suggesting a general role in auditory object categorization. Our findings complement the current evidence of cortical sensitivity to human vocal sounds by revealing that the greatest sensitivity during categorization tasks is devoted to distinguishing voice from nonvoice categories within human temporal cortex. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

  7. Visual and Auditory Memory in Spelling: An Exploratory Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Day, J. B.; Wedell, K.

    1972-01-01

    Using visual and auditory memory sequencing tests with 140 children aged 8-10, this study aimed to investigate the assumption that visual and auditory memory are important component functions in children's spelling. (Author)

  8. Precision of Synesthetic Color Matching Resembles That for Recollected Colors Rather than Physical Colors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnold, Derek H.; Wegener, Signy V.; Brown, Francesca; Mattingley, Jason B.

    2012-01-01

    Grapheme-color synesthesia is an atypical condition in which individuals experience sensations of color when reading printed graphemes such as letters and digits. For some grapheme-color synesthetes, seeing a printed grapheme triggers a sensation of color, but "hearing" the name of a grapheme does not. This dissociation allowed us to…

  9. Learning-dependent plasticity in human auditory cortex during appetitive operant conditioning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puschmann, Sebastian; Brechmann, André; Thiel, Christiane M

    2013-11-01

    Animal experiments provide evidence that learning to associate an auditory stimulus with a reward causes representational changes in auditory cortex. However, most studies did not investigate the temporal formation of learning-dependent plasticity during the task but rather compared auditory cortex receptive fields before and after conditioning. We here present a functional magnetic resonance imaging study on learning-related plasticity in the human auditory cortex during operant appetitive conditioning. Participants had to learn to associate a specific category of frequency-modulated tones with a reward. Only participants who learned this association developed learning-dependent plasticity in left auditory cortex over the course of the experiment. No differential responses to reward predicting and nonreward predicting tones were found in auditory cortex in nonlearners. In addition, learners showed similar learning-induced differential responses to reward-predicting and nonreward-predicting tones in the ventral tegmental area and the nucleus accumbens, two core regions of the dopaminergic neurotransmitter system. This may indicate a dopaminergic influence on the formation of learning-dependent plasticity in auditory cortex, as it has been suggested by previous animal studies. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  10. Auditory recognition memory is inferior to visual recognition memory

    OpenAIRE

    Cohen, Michael A.; Horowitz, Todd S.; Wolfe, Jeremy M.

    2009-01-01

    Visual memory for scenes is surprisingly robust. We wished to examine whether an analogous ability exists in the auditory domain. Participants listened to a variety of sound clips and were tested on their ability to distinguish old from new clips. Stimuli ranged from complex auditory scenes (e.g., talking in a pool hall) to isolated auditory objects (e.g., a dog barking) to music. In some conditions, additional information was provided to help participants with encoding. In every situation, h...

  11. Visual Information Present in Infragranular Layers of Mouse Auditory Cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morrill, Ryan J; Hasenstaub, Andrea R

    2018-03-14

    The cerebral cortex is a major hub for the convergence and integration of signals from across the sensory modalities; sensory cortices, including primary regions, are no exception. Here we show that visual stimuli influence neural firing in the auditory cortex of awake male and female mice, using multisite probes to sample single units across multiple cortical layers. We demonstrate that visual stimuli influence firing in both primary and secondary auditory cortex. We then determine the laminar location of recording sites through electrode track tracing with fluorescent dye and optogenetic identification using layer-specific markers. Spiking responses to visual stimulation occur deep in auditory cortex and are particularly prominent in layer 6. Visual modulation of firing rate occurs more frequently at areas with secondary-like auditory responses than those with primary-like responses. Auditory cortical responses to drifting visual gratings are not orientation-tuned, unlike visual cortex responses. The deepest cortical layers thus appear to be an important locus for cross-modal integration in auditory cortex. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The deepest layers of the auditory cortex are often considered its most enigmatic, possessing a wide range of cell morphologies and atypical sensory responses. Here we show that, in mouse auditory cortex, these layers represent a locus of cross-modal convergence, containing many units responsive to visual stimuli. Our results suggest that this visual signal conveys the presence and timing of a stimulus rather than specifics about that stimulus, such as its orientation. These results shed light on both how and what types of cross-modal information is integrated at the earliest stages of sensory cortical processing. Copyright © 2018 the authors 0270-6474/18/382854-09$15.00/0.

  12. Polarity-Specific Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Disrupts Auditory Pitch Learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reiko eMatsushita

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS is attracting increasing interest because of its potential for therapeutic use. While its effects have been investigated mainly with motor and visual tasks, less is known in the auditory domain. Past tDCS studies with auditory tasks demonstrated various behavioural outcomes, possibly due to differences in stimulation parameters or task measurements used in each study. Further research using well-validated tasks are therefore required for clarification of behavioural effects of tDCS on the auditory system. Here, we took advantage of findings from a prior functional magnetic resonance imaging study, which demonstrated that the right auditory cortex is modulated during fine-grained pitch learning of microtonal melodic patterns. Targeting the right auditory cortex with tDCS using this same task thus allowed us to test the hypothesis that this region is causally involved in pitch learning. Participants in the current study were trained for three days while we measured pitch discrimination thresholds using microtonal melodies on each day using a psychophysical staircase procedure. We administered anodal, cathodal, or sham tDCS to three groups of participants over the right auditory cortex on the second day of training during performance of the task. Both the sham and the cathodal groups showed the expected significant learning effect (decreased pitch threshold over the three days of training; in contrast we observed a blocking effect of anodal tDCS on auditory pitch learning, such that this group showed no significant change in thresholds over the three days. The results support a causal role for the right auditory cortex in pitch discrimination learning.

  13. Task-specific reorganization of the auditory cortex in deaf humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bola, Łukasz; Zimmermann, Maria; Mostowski, Piotr; Jednoróg, Katarzyna; Marchewka, Artur; Rutkowski, Paweł; Szwed, Marcin

    2017-01-24

    The principles that guide large-scale cortical reorganization remain unclear. In the blind, several visual regions preserve their task specificity; ventral visual areas, for example, become engaged in auditory and tactile object-recognition tasks. It remains open whether task-specific reorganization is unique to the visual cortex or, alternatively, whether this kind of plasticity is a general principle applying to other cortical areas. Auditory areas can become recruited for visual and tactile input in the deaf. Although nonhuman data suggest that this reorganization might be task specific, human evidence has been lacking. Here we enrolled 15 deaf and 15 hearing adults into an functional MRI experiment during which they discriminated between temporally complex sequences of stimuli (rhythms). Both deaf and hearing subjects performed the task visually, in the central visual field. In addition, hearing subjects performed the same task in the auditory modality. We found that the visual task robustly activated the auditory cortex in deaf subjects, peaking in the posterior-lateral part of high-level auditory areas. This activation pattern was strikingly similar to the pattern found in hearing subjects performing the auditory version of the task. Although performing the visual task in deaf subjects induced an increase in functional connectivity between the auditory cortex and the dorsal visual cortex, no such effect was found in hearing subjects. We conclude that in deaf humans the high-level auditory cortex switches its input modality from sound to vision but preserves its task-specific activation pattern independent of input modality. Task-specific reorganization thus might be a general principle that guides cortical plasticity in the brain.

  14. Auditory Phoneme Discrimination in Illiterates: Mismatch Negativity--A Question of Literacy?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaadt, Gesa; Pannekamp, Ann; van der Meer, Elke

    2013-01-01

    These days, illiteracy is still a major problem. There is empirical evidence that auditory phoneme discrimination is one of the factors contributing to written language acquisition. The current study investigated auditory phoneme discrimination in participants who did not acquire written language sufficiently. Auditory phoneme discrimination was…

  15. Functional sex differences in human primary auditory cortex

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ruytjens, Liesbet; Georgiadis, Janniko R.; Holstege, Gert; Wit, Hero P.; Albers, Frans W. J.; Willemsen, Antoon T. M.

    2007-01-01

    Background We used PET to study cortical activation during auditory stimulation and found sex differences in the human primary auditory cortex (PAC). Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured in 10 male and 10 female volunteers while listening to sounds (music or white noise) and during a

  16. Color Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wrolstad, Ronald E.; Smith, Daniel E.

    Color, flavor, and texture are the three principal quality attributes that determine food acceptance, and color has a far greater influence on our judgment than most of us appreciate. We use color to determine if a banana is at our preferred ripeness level, and a discolored meat product can warn us that the product may be spoiled. The marketing departments of our food corporations know that, for their customers, the color must be "right." The University of California Davis scorecard for wine quality designates four points out of 20, or 20% of the total score, for color and appearance (1). Food scientists who establish quality control specifications for their product are very aware of the importance of color and appearance. While subjective visual assessment and use of visual color standards are still used in the food industry, instrumental color measurements are extensively employed. Objective measurement of color is desirable for both research and industrial applications, and the ruggedness, stability, and ease of use of today's color measurement instruments have resulted in their widespread adoption.

  17. How do auditory cortex neurons represent communication sounds?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaucher, Quentin; Huetz, Chloé; Gourévitch, Boris; Laudanski, Jonathan; Occelli, Florian; Edeline, Jean-Marc

    2013-11-01

    A major goal in auditory neuroscience is to characterize how communication sounds are represented at the cortical level. The present review aims at investigating the role of auditory cortex in the processing of speech, bird songs and other vocalizations, which all are spectrally and temporally highly structured sounds. Whereas earlier studies have simply looked for neurons exhibiting higher firing rates to particular conspecific vocalizations over their modified, artificially synthesized versions, more recent studies determined the coding capacity of temporal spike patterns, which are prominent in primary and non-primary areas (and also in non-auditory cortical areas). In several cases, this information seems to be correlated with the behavioral performance of human or animal subjects, suggesting that spike-timing based coding strategies might set the foundations of our perceptive abilities. Also, it is now clear that the responses of auditory cortex neurons are highly nonlinear and that their responses to natural stimuli cannot be predicted from their responses to artificial stimuli such as moving ripples and broadband noises. Since auditory cortex neurons cannot follow rapid fluctuations of the vocalizations envelope, they only respond at specific time points during communication sounds, which can serve as temporal markers for integrating the temporal and spectral processing taking place at subcortical relays. Thus, the temporal sparse code of auditory cortex neurons can be considered as a first step for generating high level representations of communication sounds independent of the acoustic characteristic of these sounds. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Communication Sounds and the Brain: New Directions and Perspectives". Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Neural Correlates of Automatic and Controlled Auditory Processing in Schizophrenia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morey, Rajendra A.; Mitchell, Teresa V.; Inan, Seniha; Lieberman, Jeffrey A.; Belger, Aysenil

    2009-01-01

    Individuals with schizophrenia demonstrate impairments in selective attention and sensory processing. The authors assessed differences in brain function between 26 participants with schizophrenia and 17 comparison subjects engaged in automatic (unattended) and controlled (attended) auditory information processing using event-related functional MRI. Lower regional neural activation during automatic auditory processing in the schizophrenia group was not confined to just the temporal lobe, but also extended to prefrontal regions. Controlled auditory processing was associated with a distributed frontotemporal and subcortical dysfunction. Differences in activation between these two modes of auditory information processing were more pronounced in the comparison group than in the patient group. PMID:19196926

  19. Direct Contribution of Auditory Motion Information to Sound-Induced Visual Motion Perception

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Souta Hidaka

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available We have recently demonstrated that alternating left-right sound sources induce motion perception to static visual stimuli along the horizontal plane (SIVM: sound-induced visual motion perception, Hidaka et al., 2009. The aim of the current study was to elucidate whether auditory motion signals, rather than auditory positional signals, can directly contribute to the SIVM. We presented static visual flashes at retinal locations outside the fovea together with a lateral auditory motion provided by a virtual stereo noise source smoothly shifting in the horizontal plane. The flashes appeared to move in the situation where auditory positional information would have little influence on the perceived position of visual stimuli; the spatiotemporal position of the flashes was in the middle of the auditory motion trajectory. Furthermore, the auditory motion altered visual motion perception in a global motion display; in this display, different localized motion signals of multiple visual stimuli were combined to produce a coherent visual motion perception so that there was no clear one-to-one correspondence between the auditory stimuli and each visual stimulus. These findings suggest the existence of direct interactions between the auditory and visual modalities in motion processing and motion perception.

  20. Spatial constancy of attention across eye movements is mediated by the presence of visual objects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lisi, Matteo; Cavanagh, Patrick; Zorzi, Marco

    2015-05-01

    Recent studies have shown that attentional facilitation lingers at the retinotopic coordinates of a previously attended position after an eye movement. These results are intriguing, because the retinotopic location becomes behaviorally irrelevant once the eyes have moved. Critically, in these studies participants were asked to maintain attention on a blank location of the screen. In the present study, we examined whether the continuing presence of a visual object at the cued location could affect the allocation of attention across eye movements. We used a trans-saccadic cueing paradigm in which the relevant positions could be defined or not by visual objects (simple square outlines). We find an attentional benefit at the spatiotopic location of the cue only when the object (the placeholder) has been continuously present at that location. We conclude that the presence of an object at the attended location is a critical factor for the maintenance of spatial constancy of attention across eye movements, a finding that helps to reconcile previous conflicting results.

  1. Remarks on non-Gaussian fluctuations of the inflaton and constancy of ζ outside the horizon

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mahajan, N; Rangarajan, R

    2014-01-01

    We have pointed out that the non-Gaussianity arising from cubic self interactions of the inflaton field is proportional to ξN e . For scales of interest N e = 60, and for models such as new inflation, natural inflation, and running mass inflation ξ is large compared to the slow roll parameter. Therefore, the contribution from self interactions should not be outrightly ignored while retaining other terms in the non-Gaussianity parameter f NL . But the N e dependent term seems to imply the growth of non-Gaussianities outside the horizon. Therefore, we have briefly discussed the issue of the constancy of correlations of the curvature perturbation ζ outside the horizon. We have then presented our results on the 3-point function of ζ k , and found that the N e dependent contribution to f NL from self interactions of the inflaton field is cancelled by contributions from other terms associated with non-linearities in cosmological perturbation theory

  2. Color Memory

    OpenAIRE

    Pate, Monica; Raclariu, Ana-Maria; Strominger, Andrew

    2017-01-01

    A transient color flux across null infinity in classical Yang-Mills theory is considered. It is shown that a pair of test `quarks' initially in a color singlet generically acquire net color as a result of the flux. A nonlinear formula is derived for the relative color rotation of the quarks. For weak color flux the formula linearizes to the Fourier transform of the soft gluon theorem. This color memory effect is the Yang-Mills analog of the gravitational memory effect.

  3. Adult plasticity in the subcortical auditory pathway of the maternal mouse.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jason A Miranda

    Full Text Available Subcortical auditory nuclei were traditionally viewed as non-plastic in adulthood so that acoustic information could be stably conveyed to higher auditory areas. Studies in a variety of species, including humans, now suggest that prolonged acoustic training can drive long-lasting brainstem plasticity. The neurobiological mechanisms for such changes are not well understood in natural behavioral contexts due to a relative dearth of in vivo animal models in which to study this. Here, we demonstrate in a mouse model that a natural life experience with increased demands on the auditory system - motherhood - is associated with improved temporal processing in the subcortical auditory pathway. We measured the auditory brainstem response to test whether mothers and pup-naïve virgin mice differed in temporal responses to both broadband and tone stimuli, including ultrasonic frequencies found in mouse pup vocalizations. Mothers had shorter latencies for early ABR peaks, indicating plasticity in the auditory nerve and the cochlear nucleus. Shorter interpeak latency between waves IV and V also suggest plasticity in the inferior colliculus. Hormone manipulations revealed that these cannot be explained solely by estrogen levels experienced during pregnancy and parturition in mothers. In contrast, we found that pup-care experience, independent of pregnancy and parturition, contributes to shortening auditory brainstem response latencies. These results suggest that acoustic experience in the maternal context imparts plasticity on early auditory processing that lasts beyond pup weaning. In addition to establishing an animal model for exploring adult auditory brainstem plasticity in a neuroethological context, our results have broader implications for models of perceptual, behavioral and neural changes that arise during maternity, where subcortical sensorineural plasticity has not previously been considered.

  4. Adult plasticity in the subcortical auditory pathway of the maternal mouse.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miranda, Jason A; Shepard, Kathryn N; McClintock, Shannon K; Liu, Robert C

    2014-01-01

    Subcortical auditory nuclei were traditionally viewed as non-plastic in adulthood so that acoustic information could be stably conveyed to higher auditory areas. Studies in a variety of species, including humans, now suggest that prolonged acoustic training can drive long-lasting brainstem plasticity. The neurobiological mechanisms for such changes are not well understood in natural behavioral contexts due to a relative dearth of in vivo animal models in which to study this. Here, we demonstrate in a mouse model that a natural life experience with increased demands on the auditory system - motherhood - is associated with improved temporal processing in the subcortical auditory pathway. We measured the auditory brainstem response to test whether mothers and pup-naïve virgin mice differed in temporal responses to both broadband and tone stimuli, including ultrasonic frequencies found in mouse pup vocalizations. Mothers had shorter latencies for early ABR peaks, indicating plasticity in the auditory nerve and the cochlear nucleus. Shorter interpeak latency between waves IV and V also suggest plasticity in the inferior colliculus. Hormone manipulations revealed that these cannot be explained solely by estrogen levels experienced during pregnancy and parturition in mothers. In contrast, we found that pup-care experience, independent of pregnancy and parturition, contributes to shortening auditory brainstem response latencies. These results suggest that acoustic experience in the maternal context imparts plasticity on early auditory processing that lasts beyond pup weaning. In addition to establishing an animal model for exploring adult auditory brainstem plasticity in a neuroethological context, our results have broader implications for models of perceptual, behavioral and neural changes that arise during maternity, where subcortical sensorineural plasticity has not previously been considered.

  5. Persistent neural activity in auditory cortex is related to auditory working memory in humans and nonhuman primates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Ying; Matysiak, Artur; Heil, Peter; König, Reinhard; Brosch, Michael

    2016-07-20

    Working memory is the cognitive capacity of short-term storage of information for goal-directed behaviors. Where and how this capacity is implemented in the brain are unresolved questions. We show that auditory cortex stores information by persistent changes of neural activity. We separated activity related to working memory from activity related to other mental processes by having humans and monkeys perform different tasks with varying working memory demands on the same sound sequences. Working memory was reflected in the spiking activity of individual neurons in auditory cortex and in the activity of neuronal populations, that is, in local field potentials and magnetic fields. Our results provide direct support for the idea that temporary storage of information recruits the same brain areas that also process the information. Because similar activity was observed in the two species, the cellular bases of some auditory working memory processes in humans can be studied in monkeys.

  6. Visual face-movement sensitive cortex is relevant for auditory-only speech recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riedel, Philipp; Ragert, Patrick; Schelinski, Stefanie; Kiebel, Stefan J; von Kriegstein, Katharina

    2015-07-01

    It is commonly assumed that the recruitment of visual areas during audition is not relevant for performing auditory tasks ('auditory-only view'). According to an alternative view, however, the recruitment of visual cortices is thought to optimize auditory-only task performance ('auditory-visual view'). This alternative view is based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies. These studies have shown, for example, that even if there is only auditory input available, face-movement sensitive areas within the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) are involved in understanding what is said (auditory-only speech recognition). This is particularly the case when speakers are known audio-visually, that is, after brief voice-face learning. Here we tested whether the left pSTS involvement is causally related to performance in auditory-only speech recognition when speakers are known by face. To test this hypothesis, we applied cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the pSTS during (i) visual-only speech recognition of a speaker known only visually to participants and (ii) auditory-only speech recognition of speakers they learned by voice and face. We defined the cathode as active electrode to down-regulate cortical excitability by hyperpolarization of neurons. tDCS to the pSTS interfered with visual-only speech recognition performance compared to a control group without pSTS stimulation (tDCS to BA6/44 or sham). Critically, compared to controls, pSTS stimulation additionally decreased auditory-only speech recognition performance selectively for voice-face learned speakers. These results are important in two ways. First, they provide direct evidence that the pSTS is causally involved in visual-only speech recognition; this confirms a long-standing prediction of current face-processing models. Secondly, they show that visual face-sensitive pSTS is causally involved in optimizing auditory-only speech recognition. These results are in line

  7. Threatening auditory hallucinations and Cotard syndrome in Parkinson disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Factor, Stewart A; Molho, Eric S

    2004-01-01

    Psychotic symptoms are commonly reported in patients with Parkinson disease (PD). In particular, patients experience nonthreatening visual hallucinations that can occur with insight (so called hallucinosis) or without. Auditory hallucinations are uncommon, and schizophrenialike symptoms such as pejorative and threatening auditory hallucinations and delusions that are persecutory, referential, somatic, religious, or grandiose have rarely been reported. The authors present 2 PD patients who experienced threatening auditory hallucinations, without visual hallucinations, and schizophrenialike delusions with detailed description of the clinical phenomenology including 1 patient with Cotard syndrome.

  8. Integration of auditory and tactile inputs in musical meter perception.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Juan; Gamble, Darik; Sarnlertsophon, Kristine; Wang, Xiaoqin; Hsiao, Steven

    2013-01-01

    Musicians often say that they not only hear but also "feel" music. To explore the contribution of tactile information to "feeling" music, we investigated the degree that auditory and tactile inputs are integrated in humans performing a musical meter-recognition task. Subjects discriminated between two types of sequences, "duple" (march-like rhythms) and "triple" (waltz-like rhythms), presented in three conditions: (1) unimodal inputs (auditory or tactile alone); (2) various combinations of bimodal inputs, where sequences were distributed between the auditory and tactile channels such that a single channel did not produce coherent meter percepts; and (3) bimodal inputs where the two channels contained congruent or incongruent meter cues. We first show that meter is perceived similarly well (70-85 %) when tactile or auditory cues are presented alone. We next show in the bimodal experiments that auditory and tactile cues are integrated to produce coherent meter percepts. Performance is high (70-90 %) when all of the metrically important notes are assigned to one channel and is reduced to 60 % when half of these notes are assigned to one channel. When the important notes are presented simultaneously to both channels, congruent cues enhance meter recognition (90 %). Performance dropped dramatically when subjects were presented with incongruent auditory cues (10 %), as opposed to incongruent tactile cues (60 %), demonstrating that auditory input dominates meter perception. These observations support the notion that meter perception is a cross-modal percept with tactile inputs underlying the perception of "feeling" music.

  9. Unhealthy behaviours and risk of visual impairment: The CONSTANCES population-based cohort.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merle, Bénédicte M J; Moreau, Gwendoline; Ozguler, Anna; Srour, Bernard; Cougnard-Grégoire, Audrey; Goldberg, Marcel; Zins, Marie; Delcourt, Cécile

    2018-04-26

    Unhealthy behaviours are linked to a higher risk of eye diseases, but their combined effect on visual function is unknown. We aimed to examine the individual and combined associations of diet, physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption with visual impairment among French adults. 38 903 participants aged 18-73 years from the CONSTANCES nationwide cohort (2012-2016) with visual acuity measured and who completed, lifestyle, medical and food frequency questionnaires were included. Visual impairment was defined as a presenting visual acuity visual impairment increased with decreasing diet quality (p for trend = 0.04), decreasing physical activity (p for trend = 0.02) and increasing smoking pack-years (p for trend = 0.03), whereas no statistically significant association with alcohol consumption was found. Combination of several unhealthy behaviours was associated with increasing odds for visual impairment (p for trend = 0.0002), with a fully-adjusted odds ratio of 1.81 (95% CI 1.18 to 2.79) for participants reporting 2 unhealthy behaviours and 2.92 (95% CI 1.60 to 5.32) for those reporting 3 unhealthy behaviours. An unhealthy lifestyle including low/intermediate diet quality, low physical activity and heavy smoking was associated with visual impairment in this large population-based study.

  10. Auditory-visual integration modulates location-specific repetition suppression of auditory responses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shrem, Talia; Murray, Micah M; Deouell, Leon Y

    2017-11-01

    Space is a dimension shared by different modalities, but at what stage spatial encoding is affected by multisensory processes is unclear. Early studies observed attenuation of N1/P2 auditory evoked responses following repetition of sounds from the same location. Here, we asked whether this effect is modulated by audiovisual interactions. In two experiments, using a repetition-suppression paradigm, we presented pairs of tones in free field, where the test stimulus was a tone presented at a fixed lateral location. Experiment 1 established a neural index of auditory spatial sensitivity, by comparing the degree of attenuation of the response to test stimuli when they were preceded by an adapter sound at the same location versus 30° or 60° away. We found that the degree of attenuation at the P2 latency was inversely related to the spatial distance between the test stimulus and the adapter stimulus. In Experiment 2, the adapter stimulus was a tone presented from the same location or a more medial location than the test stimulus. The adapter stimulus was accompanied by a simultaneous flash displayed orthogonally from one of the two locations. Sound-flash incongruence reduced accuracy in a same-different location discrimination task (i.e., the ventriloquism effect) and reduced the location-specific repetition-suppression at the P2 latency. Importantly, this multisensory effect included topographic modulations, indicative of changes in the relative contribution of underlying sources across conditions. Our findings suggest that the auditory response at the P2 latency is affected by spatially selective brain activity, which is affected crossmodally by visual information. © 2017 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

  11. Congenital Deafness Reduces, But Does Not Eliminate Auditory Responsiveness in Cat Extrastriate Visual Cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Land, Rüdiger; Radecke, Jan-Ole; Kral, Andrej

    2018-04-01

    Congenital deafness not only affects the development of the auditory cortex, but also the interrelation between the visual and auditory system. For example, congenital deafness leads to visual modulation of the deaf auditory cortex in the form of cross-modal plasticity. Here we asked, whether congenital deafness additionally affects auditory modulation in the visual cortex. We demonstrate that auditory activity, which is normally present in the lateral suprasylvian visual areas in normal hearing cats, can also be elicited by electrical activation of the auditory system with cochlear implants. We then show that in adult congenitally deaf cats auditory activity in this region was reduced when tested with cochlear implant stimulation. However, the change in this area was small and auditory activity was not completely abolished despite years of congenital deafness. The results document that congenital deafness leads not only to changes in the auditory cortex but also affects auditory modulation of visual areas. However, the results further show a persistence of fundamental cortical sensory functional organization despite congenital deafness. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  12. Association between language development and auditory processing disorders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Caroline Nunes Rocha-Muniz

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: It is crucial to understand the complex processing of acoustic stimuli along the auditory pathway ;comprehension of this complex processing can facilitate our understanding of the processes that underlie normal and altered human communication. AIM: To investigate the performance and lateralization effects on auditory processing assessment in children with specific language impairment (SLI, relating these findings to those obtained in children with auditory processing disorder (APD and typical development (TD. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Prospective study. Seventy-five children, aged 6-12 years, were separated in three groups: 25 children with SLI, 25 children with APD, and 25 children with TD. All went through the following tests: speech-in-noise test, Dichotic Digit test and Pitch Pattern Sequencing test. RESULTS: The effects of lateralization were observed only in the SLI group, with the left ear presenting much lower scores than those presented to the right ear. The inter-group analysis has shown that in all tests children from APD and SLI groups had significantly poorer performance compared to TD group. Moreover, SLI group presented worse results than APD group. CONCLUSION: This study has shown, in children with SLI, an inefficient processing of essential sound components and an effect of lateralization. These findings may indicate that neural processes (required for auditory processing are different between auditory processing and speech disorders.

  13. Color-Blind Racism, Color-Blind Theology, and Church Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hearn, Mark

    2009-01-01

    Color-blind racism develops when persons ignore color in people and see them simply as individuals. As persons of color in racialized societies such as the United States are unequally treated on account of their color, the issue becomes a matter of faith and religious experience as religious leaders and educators, who disregard color, overlook…

  14. The impact of educational level on performance on auditory processing tests

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristina F.B. Murphy

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Research has demonstrated that a higher level of education is associated with better performance on cognitive tests among middle-aged and elderly people. However, the effects of education on auditory processing skills have not yet been evaluated. Previous demonstrations of sensory-cognitive interactions in the aging process indicate the potential importance of this topic. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of middle-aged and elderly people with different levels of formal education on auditory processing tests. A total of 177 adults with no evidence of cognitive, psychological or neurological conditions took part in the research. The participants completed a series of auditory assessments, including dichotic digit, frequency pattern and speech-in-noise tests. A working memory test was also performed to investigate the extent to which auditory processing and cognitive performance were associated. The results demonstrated positive but weak correlations between years of schooling and performance on all of the tests applied. The factor years of schooling was also one of the best predictors of frequency pattern and speech-in-noise test performance. Additionally, performance on the working memory, frequency pattern and dichotic digit tests was also correlated, suggesting that the influence of educational level on auditory processing performance might be associated with the cognitive demand of the auditory processing tests rather than auditory sensory aspects itself. Longitudinal research is required to investigate the causal relationship between educational level and auditory processing skills.

  15. Verbal working memory deficits predict levels of auditory hallucination in first-episode psychosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gisselgård, Jens; Anda, Liss Gøril; Brønnick, Kolbjørn; Langeveld, Johannes; Ten Velden Hegelstad, Wenche; Joa, Inge; Johannessen, Jan Olav; Larsen, Tor Ketil

    2014-03-01

    Auditory verbal hallucinations are a characteristic symptom in schizophrenia. Recent causal models of auditory verbal hallucinations propose that cognitive mechanisms involving verbal working memory are involved in the genesis of auditory verbal hallucinations. Thus, in the present study, we investigate the hypothesis that verbal working memory is a specific factor behind auditory verbal hallucinations. In the present study, we investigated the association between verbal working memory manipulation (Backward Digit Span and Letter-Number Sequencing) and auditory verbal hallucinations in a population study (N=52) of first episode psychosis. The degree of auditory verbal hallucination as reported in the P3-subscale of the PANSS interview was included as dependent variable using sequential multiple regression, while controlling for age, psychosis symptom severity, executive cognitive functions and simple auditory working memory span. Multiple sequential regression analyses revealed verbal working memory manipulation to be the only significant predictor of verbal hallucination severity. Consistent with cognitive data from auditory verbal hallucinations in healthy individuals, the present results suggest a specific association between auditory verbal hallucinations, and cognitive processes involving the manipulation of phonological representations during a verbal working memory task. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Neural Substrates of Auditory Emotion Recognition Deficits in Schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kantrowitz, Joshua T; Hoptman, Matthew J; Leitman, David I; Moreno-Ortega, Marta; Lehrfeld, Jonathan M; Dias, Elisa; Sehatpour, Pejman; Laukka, Petri; Silipo, Gail; Javitt, Daniel C

    2015-11-04

    Deficits in auditory emotion recognition (AER) are a core feature of schizophrenia and a key component of social cognitive impairment. AER deficits are tied behaviorally to impaired ability to interpret tonal ("prosodic") features of speech that normally convey emotion, such as modulations in base pitch (F0M) and pitch variability (F0SD). These modulations can be recreated using synthetic frequency modulated (FM) tones that mimic the prosodic contours of specific emotional stimuli. The present study investigates neural mechanisms underlying impaired AER using a combined event-related potential/resting-state functional connectivity (rsfMRI) approach in 84 schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder patients and 66 healthy comparison subjects. Mismatch negativity (MMN) to FM tones was assessed in 43 patients/36 controls. rsfMRI between auditory cortex and medial temporal (insula) regions was assessed in 55 patients/51 controls. The relationship between AER, MMN to FM tones, and rsfMRI was assessed in the subset who performed all assessments (14 patients, 21 controls). As predicted, patients showed robust reductions in MMN across FM stimulus type (p = 0.005), particularly to modulations in F0M, along with impairments in AER and FM tone discrimination. MMN source analysis indicated dipoles in both auditory cortex and anterior insula, whereas rsfMRI analyses showed reduced auditory-insula connectivity. MMN to FM tones and functional connectivity together accounted for ∼50% of the variance in AER performance across individuals. These findings demonstrate that impaired preattentive processing of tonal information and reduced auditory-insula connectivity are critical determinants of social cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia, and thus represent key targets for future research and clinical intervention. Schizophrenia patients show deficits in the ability to infer emotion based upon tone of voice [auditory emotion recognition (AER)] that drive impairments in social cognition

  17. Auditory training and challenges associated with participation and compliance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sweetow, Robert W; Sabes, Jennifer Henderson

    2010-10-01

    When individuals have hearing loss, physiological changes in their brain interact with relearning of sound patterns. Some individuals utilize compensatory strategies that may result in successful hearing aid use. Others, however, are not so fortunate. Modern hearing aids can provide audibility but may not rectify spectral and temporal resolution, susceptibility to noise interference, or degradation of cognitive skills, such as declining auditory memory and slower speed of processing associated with aging. Frequently, these deficits are not identified during a typical "hearing aid evaluation." Aural rehabilitation has long been advocated to enhance communication but has not been considered time or cost-effective. Home-based, interactive adaptive computer therapy programs are available that are designed to engage the adult hearing-impaired listener in the hearing aid fitting process, provide listening strategies, build confidence, and address cognitive changes. Despite the availability of these programs, many patients and professionals are reluctant to engage in and complete therapy. The purposes of this article are to discuss the need for identifying auditory and nonauditory factors that may adversely affect the overall audiological rehabilitation process, to discuss important features that should be incorporated into training, and to examine reasons for the lack of compliance with therapeutic options. Possible solutions to maximizing compliance are explored. Only a small portion of audiologists (fewer than 10%) offer auditory training to patients with hearing impairment, even though auditory training appears to lower the rate of hearing aid returns for credit. Patients to whom auditory training programs are recommended often do not complete the training, however. Compliance for a cohort of home-based auditory therapy trainees was less than 30%. Activities to increase patient compliance to auditory training protocols are proposed. American Academy of Audiology.

  18. Age at implantation and auditory memory in cochlear implanted children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mikic, B; Miric, D; Nikolic-Mikic, M; Ostojic, S; Asanovic, M

    2014-05-01

    Early cochlear implantation, before the age of 3 years, provides the best outcome regarding listening, speech, cognition an memory due to maximal central nervous system plasticity. Intensive postoperative training improves not only auditory performance and language, but affects auditory memory as well. The aim of this study was to discover if the age at implantation affects auditory memory function in cochlear implanted children. A total of 50 cochlear implanted children aged 4 to 8 years were enrolled in this study: early implanted (1-3y) n = 27 and late implanted (4-6y) n = 23. Two types of memory tests were used: Immediate Verbal Memory Test and Forward and Backward Digit Span Test. Early implanted children performed better on both verbal and numeric tasks of auditory memory. The difference was statistically significant, especially on the complex tasks. Early cochlear implantation, before the age of 3 years, significantly improve auditory memory and contribute to better cognitive and education outcomes.

  19. Auditory and cognitive performance in elderly musicians and nonmusicians.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Massimo Grassi

    Full Text Available Musicians represent a model for examining brain and behavioral plasticity in terms of cognitive and auditory profile, but few studies have investigated whether elderly musicians have better auditory and cognitive abilities than nonmusicians. The aim of the present study was to examine whether being a professional musician attenuates the normal age-related changes in hearing and cognition. Elderly musicians still active in their profession were compared with nonmusicians on auditory performance (absolute threshold, frequency intensity, duration and spectral shape discrimination, gap and sinusoidal amplitude-modulation detection, and on simple (short-term memory and more complex and higher-order (working memory [WM] and visuospatial abilities cognitive tasks. The sample consisted of adults at least 65 years of age. The results showed that older musicians had similar absolute thresholds but better supra-threshold discrimination abilities than nonmusicians in four of the six auditory tasks administered. They also had a better WM performance, and stronger visuospatial abilities than nonmusicians. No differences were found between the two groups' short-term memory. Frequency discrimination and gap detection for the auditory measures, and WM complex span tasks and one of the visuospatial tasks for the cognitive ones proved to be very good classifiers of the musicians. These findings suggest that life-long music training may be associated with enhanced auditory and cognitive performance, including complex cognitive skills, in advanced age. However, whether this music training represents a protective factor or not needs further investigation.

  20. You can't stop the music: reduced auditory alpha power and coupling between auditory and memory regions facilitate the illusory perception of music during noise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Müller, Nadia; Keil, Julian; Obleser, Jonas; Schulz, Hannah; Grunwald, Thomas; Bernays, René-Ludwig; Huppertz, Hans-Jürgen; Weisz, Nathan

    2013-10-01

    Our brain has the capacity of providing an experience of hearing even in the absence of auditory stimulation. This can be seen as illusory conscious perception. While increasing evidence postulates that conscious perception requires specific brain states that systematically relate to specific patterns of oscillatory activity, the relationship between auditory illusions and oscillatory activity remains mostly unexplained. To investigate this we recorded brain activity with magnetoencephalography and collected intracranial data from epilepsy patients while participants listened to familiar as well as unknown music that was partly replaced by sections of pink noise. We hypothesized that participants have a stronger experience of hearing music throughout noise when the noise sections are embedded in familiar compared to unfamiliar music. This was supported by the behavioral results showing that participants rated the perception of music during noise as stronger when noise was presented in a familiar context. Time-frequency data show that the illusory perception of music is associated with a decrease in auditory alpha power pointing to increased auditory cortex excitability. Furthermore, the right auditory cortex is concurrently synchronized with the medial temporal lobe, putatively mediating memory aspects associated with the music illusion. We thus assume that neuronal activity in the highly excitable auditory cortex is shaped through extensive communication between the auditory cortex and the medial temporal lobe, thereby generating the illusion of hearing music during noise. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Hearing colors: an example of brain plasticity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alfaro, Arantxa; Bernabeu, Ángela; Agulló, Carlos; Parra, Jaime; Fernández, Eduardo

    2015-01-01

    Sensory substitution devices (SSDs) are providing new ways for improving or replacing sensory abilities that have been lost due to disease or injury, and at the same time offer unprecedented opportunities to address how the nervous system could lead to an augmentation of its capacities. In this work we have evaluated a color-blind subject using a new visual-to-auditory SSD device called "Eyeborg", that allows colors to be perceived as sounds. We used a combination of neuroimaging techniques including Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) and proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) to study potential brain plasticity in this subject. Our results suggest that after 8 years of continuous use of this device there could be significant adaptive and compensatory changes within the brain. In particular, we found changes in functional neural patterns, structural connectivity and cortical topography at the visual and auditive cortex of the Eyeborg user in comparison with a control population. Although at the moment we cannot claim that the continuous use of the Eyeborg is the only reason for these findings, our results may shed further light on potential brain changes associated with the use of other SSDs. This could help to better understand how the brain adapts to several pathologies and uncover adaptive resources such as cross-modal representations. We expect that the precise understanding of these changes will have clear implications for rehabilitative training, device development and for more efficient programs for people with disabilities.

  2. Hearing colors: An example of Brain Plasticity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ARANTXA eALFARO

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Sensory substitution devices are providing new ways for improving or replacing sensory abilities that have been lost due to disease or injury, and at the same time offer unprecedented opportunities to address how the nervous system could lead to an augmentation of its capacities. In this work we have evaluated a color-blind subject using a new visual-to-auditory sensory substitution device (SSD device called Eyeborg, that allows colors to be perceived as sounds. We used a combination of neuroimaging techniques including Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI, Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI and proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (1H-MRS to study potential brain plasticity in this subject. Our results suggest that after 8 years of continuous use of this device there could be significant adaptive and compensatory changes within the brain. In particular, we found changes in functional neural patterns, structural connectivity and cortical topography at the visual and auditive cortex of the Eyeborg user in comparison with a control population. Although at the moment we cannot claim that the continuous use of the Eyeborg is the only reason for these findings, our results may shed further light on potential brain changes associated with the use of other SSDs. This could help to better understand how the brain adapts to several pathologies and uncover adaptive resources such as cross-modal representations. We expect that the precise understanding of these changes will have clear implications for rehabilitative training, device development and for more efficient programs for people with disabilities.

  3. Modulation frequency as a cue for auditory speed perception.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Senna, Irene; Parise, Cesare V; Ernst, Marc O

    2017-07-12

    Unlike vision, the mechanisms underlying auditory motion perception are poorly understood. Here we describe an auditory motion illusion revealing a novel cue to auditory speed perception: the temporal frequency of amplitude modulation (AM-frequency), typical for rattling sounds. Naturally, corrugated objects sliding across each other generate rattling sounds whose AM-frequency tends to directly correlate with speed. We found that AM-frequency modulates auditory speed perception in a highly systematic fashion: moving sounds with higher AM-frequency are perceived as moving faster than sounds with lower AM-frequency. Even more interestingly, sounds with higher AM-frequency also induce stronger motion aftereffects. This reveals the existence of specialized neural mechanisms for auditory motion perception, which are sensitive to AM-frequency. Thus, in spatial hearing, the brain successfully capitalizes on the AM-frequency of rattling sounds to estimate the speed of moving objects. This tightly parallels previous findings in motion vision, where spatio-temporal frequency of moving displays systematically affects both speed perception and the magnitude of the motion aftereffects. Such an analogy with vision suggests that motion detection may rely on canonical computations, with similar neural mechanisms shared across the different modalities. © 2017 The Author(s).

  4. Effect- and Performance-Based Auditory Feedback on Interpersonal Coordination

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    Tong-Hun Hwang

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available When two individuals interact in a collaborative task, such as carrying a sofa or a table, usually spatiotemporal coordination of individual motor behavior will emerge. In many cases, interpersonal coordination can arise independently of verbal communication, based on the observation of the partners' movements and/or the object's movements. In this study, we investigate how social coupling between two individuals can emerge in a collaborative task under different modes of perceptual information. A visual reference condition was compared with three different conditions with new types of additional auditory feedback provided in real time: effect-based auditory feedback, performance-based auditory feedback, and combined effect/performance-based auditory feedback. We have developed a new paradigm in which the actions of both participants continuously result in a seamlessly merged effect on an object simulated by a tablet computer application. Here, participants should temporally synchronize their movements with a 90° phase difference and precisely adjust the finger dynamics in order to keep the object (a ball accurately rotating on a given circular trajectory on the tablet. Results demonstrate that interpersonal coordination in a joint task can be altered by different kinds of additional auditory information in various ways.

  5. Acoustic Trauma Changes the Parvalbumin-Positive Neurons in Rat Auditory Cortex

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    Congli Liu

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Acoustic trauma is being reported to damage the auditory periphery and central system, and the compromised cortical inhibition is involved in auditory disorders, such as hyperacusis and tinnitus. Parvalbumin-containing neurons (PV neurons, a subset of GABAergic neurons, greatly shape and synchronize neural network activities. However, the change of PV neurons following acoustic trauma remains to be elucidated. The present study investigated how auditory cortical PV neurons change following unilateral 1 hour noise exposure (left ear, one octave band noise centered at 16 kHz, 116 dB SPL. Noise exposure elevated the auditory brainstem response threshold of the exposed ear when examined 7 days later. More detectable PV neurons were observed in both sides of the auditory cortex of noise-exposed rats when compared to control. The detectable PV neurons of the left auditory cortex (ipsilateral to the exposed ear to noise exposure outnumbered those of the right auditory cortex (contralateral to the exposed ear. Quantification of Western blotted bands revealed higher expression level of PV protein in the left cortex. These findings of more active PV neurons in noise-exposed rats suggested that a compensatory mechanism might be initiated to maintain a stable state of the brain.

  6. Experimental Study on Color Durability of Color Asphalt Pavement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ning, Shi; Huan, Su

    2017-06-01

    Aiming at the poor Color durability and the lack of research on Color asphalt pavement, spraying an anti-tire trace seal resin emulsion on the surface, a Color durable asphalt pavement was proposed. After long-term rolling and long-term aging test, the Color durability was evaluated by RGB function in Photoshop and trace residue rate formula. Test results proved that the Evaluation method was simple and effective. After long-term rolling, the Color of the road surface tends to a constant value. Spraying the emulsion on the road surface can resist tire traces. After long-term aging test, the resistance to tire traces was increased by 26.6% compared with the conventional type, while the former was 44.1% higher than the latter without long-term aging. The Color durable asphalt pavement can effectively improve the ability of Color asphalt pavement to resist tire traces, and significantly improve the Color durability of Color asphalt pavement.

  7. A loudspeaker-based room auralization system for auditory perception research

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Buchholz, Jörg; Favrot, Sylvain Emmanuel

    2009-01-01

    Most research on basic auditory function has been conducted in anechoic or almost anechoic environments. The knowledge derived from these experiments cannot directly be transferred to reverberant environments. In order to investigate the auditory signal processing of reverberant sounds....... This system provides a flexible research platform for conducting auditory experiments with normal-hearing, hearing-impaired, and aided hearing-impaired listeners in a fully controlled and realistic environment. This includes measures of basic auditory function (e.g., signal detection, distance perception......) and measures of speech intelligibility. A battery of objective tests (e.g., reverberation time, clarity, interaural correlation coefficient) and subjective tests (e.g., speech reception thresholds) is presented that demonstrates the applicability of the LoRA system....

  8. Demonstrating the potential for dynamic auditory stimulation to contribute to motion sickness.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Behrang Keshavarz

    Full Text Available Auditory cues can create the illusion of self-motion (vection in the absence of visual or physical stimulation. The present study aimed to determine whether auditory cues alone can also elicit motion sickness and how auditory cues contribute to motion sickness when added to visual motion stimuli. Twenty participants were seated in front of a curved projection display and were exposed to a virtual scene that constantly rotated around the participant's vertical axis. The virtual scene contained either visual-only, auditory-only, or a combination of corresponding visual and auditory cues. All participants performed all three conditions in a counterbalanced order. Participants tilted their heads alternately towards the right or left shoulder in all conditions during stimulus exposure in order to create pseudo-Coriolis effects and to maximize the likelihood for motion sickness. Measurements of motion sickness (onset, severity, vection (latency, strength, duration, and postural steadiness (center of pressure were recorded. Results showed that adding auditory cues to the visual stimuli did not, on average, affect motion sickness and postural steadiness, but it did reduce vection onset times and increased vection strength compared to pure visual or pure auditory stimulation. Eighteen of the 20 participants reported at least slight motion sickness in the two conditions including visual stimuli. More interestingly, six participants also reported slight motion sickness during pure auditory stimulation and two of the six participants stopped the pure auditory test session due to motion sickness. The present study is the first to demonstrate that motion sickness may be caused by pure auditory stimulation, which we refer to as "auditorily induced motion sickness".

  9. Frequency-specific modulation of population-level frequency tuning in human auditory cortex

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    Roberts Larry E

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Under natural circumstances, attention plays an important role in extracting relevant auditory signals from simultaneously present, irrelevant noises. Excitatory and inhibitory neural activity, enhanced by attentional processes, seems to sharpen frequency tuning, contributing to improved auditory performance especially in noisy environments. In the present study, we investigated auditory magnetic fields in humans that were evoked by pure tones embedded in band-eliminated noises during two different stimulus sequencing conditions (constant vs. random under auditory focused attention by means of magnetoencephalography (MEG. Results In total, we used identical auditory stimuli between conditions, but presented them in a different order, thereby manipulating the neural processing and the auditory performance of the listeners. Constant stimulus sequencing blocks were characterized by the simultaneous presentation of pure tones of identical frequency with band-eliminated noises, whereas random sequencing blocks were characterized by the simultaneous presentation of pure tones of random frequencies and band-eliminated noises. We demonstrated that auditory evoked neural responses were larger in the constant sequencing compared to the random sequencing condition, particularly when the simultaneously presented noises contained narrow stop-bands. Conclusion The present study confirmed that population-level frequency tuning in human auditory cortex can be sharpened in a frequency-specific manner. This frequency-specific sharpening may contribute to improved auditory performance during detection and processing of relevant sound inputs characterized by specific frequency distributions in noisy environments.

  10. Auditory processing in autism spectrum disorder

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vlaskamp, Chantal; Oranje, Bob; Madsen, Gitte Falcher

    2017-01-01

    Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often show changes in (automatic) auditory processing. Electrophysiology provides a method to study auditory processing, by investigating event-related potentials such as mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a-amplitude. However, findings on MMN in autism...... a hyper-responsivity at the attentional level. In addition, as similar MMN deficits are found in schizophrenia, these MMN results may explain some of the frequently reported increased risk of children with ASD to develop schizophrenia later in life. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1857–1865....

  11. Auditory white noise reduces postural fluctuations even in the absence of vision.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ross, Jessica Marie; Balasubramaniam, Ramesh

    2015-08-01

    The contributions of somatosensory, vestibular, and visual feedback to balance control are well documented, but the influence of auditory information, especially acoustic noise, on balance is less clear. Because somatosensory noise has been shown to reduce postural sway, we hypothesized that noise from the auditory modality might have a similar effect. Given that the nervous system uses noise to optimize signal transfer, adding mechanical or auditory noise should lead to increased feedback about sensory frames of reference used in balance control. In the present experiment, postural sway was analyzed in healthy young adults where they were presented with continuous white noise, in the presence and absence of visual information. Our results show reduced postural sway variability (as indexed by the body's center of pressure) in the presence of auditory noise, even when visual information was not present. Nonlinear time series analysis revealed that auditory noise has an additive effect, independent of vision, on postural stability. Further analysis revealed that auditory noise reduced postural sway variability in both low- and high-frequency regimes (> or noise. Our results support the idea that auditory white noise reduces postural sway, suggesting that auditory noise might be used for therapeutic and rehabilitation purposes in older individuals and those with balance disorders.

  12. Auditory changes in acromegaly.

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    Tabur, S; Korkmaz, H; Baysal, E; Hatipoglu, E; Aytac, I; Akarsu, E

    2017-06-01

    The aim of this study is to determine the changes involving auditory system in cases with acromegaly. Otological examinations of 41 cases with acromegaly (uncontrolled n = 22, controlled n = 19) were compared with those of age and gender-matched 24 healthy subjects. Whereas the cases with acromegaly underwent examination with pure tone audiometry (PTA), speech audiometry for speech discrimination (SD), tympanometry, stapedius reflex evaluation and otoacoustic emission tests, the control group did only have otological examination and PTA. Additionally, previously performed paranasal sinus-computed tomography of all cases with acromegaly and control subjects were obtained to measure the length of internal acoustic canal (IAC). PTA values were higher (p acromegaly group was narrower compared to that in control group (p = 0.03 for right ears and p = 0.02 for left ears). When only cases with acromegaly were taken into consideration, PTA values in left ears had positive correlation with growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor-1 levels (r = 0.4, p = 0.02 and r = 0.3, p = 0.03). Of all cases with acromegaly 13 (32%) had hearing loss in at least one ear, 7 (54%) had sensorineural type and 6 (46%) had conductive type hearing loss. Acromegaly may cause certain changes in the auditory system in cases with acromegaly. The changes in the auditory system may be multifactorial causing both conductive and sensorioneural defects.

  13. An anatomical and functional topography of human auditory cortical areas

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    Michelle eMoerel

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available While advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI throughout the last decades have enabled the detailed anatomical and functional inspection of the human brain non-invasively, to date there is no consensus regarding the precise subdivision and topography of the areas forming the human auditory cortex. Here, we propose a topography of the human auditory areas based on insights on the anatomical and functional properties of human auditory areas as revealed by studies of cyto- and myelo-architecture and fMRI investigations at ultra-high magnetic field (7 Tesla. Importantly, we illustrate that - whereas a group-based approach to analyze functional (tonotopic maps is appropriate to highlight the main tonotopic axis - the examination of tonotopic maps at single subject level is required to detail the topography of primary and non-primary areas that may be more variable across subjects. Furthermore, we show that considering multiple maps indicative of anatomical (i.e. myelination as well as of functional properties (e.g. broadness of frequency tuning is helpful in identifying auditory cortical areas in individual human brains. We propose and discuss a topography of areas that is consistent with old and recent anatomical post mortem characterizations of the human auditory cortex and that may serve as a working model for neuroscience studies of auditory functions.

  14. Modelling the Emergence and Dynamics of Perceptual Organisation in Auditory Streaming

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    Mill, Robert W.; Bőhm, Tamás M.; Bendixen, Alexandra; Winkler, István; Denham, Susan L.

    2013-01-01

    Many sound sources can only be recognised from the pattern of sounds they emit, and not from the individual sound events that make up their emission sequences. Auditory scene analysis addresses the difficult task of interpreting the sound world in terms of an unknown number of discrete sound sources (causes) with possibly overlapping signals, and therefore of associating each event with the appropriate source. There are potentially many different ways in which incoming events can be assigned to different causes, which means that the auditory system has to choose between them. This problem has been studied for many years using the auditory streaming paradigm, and recently it has become apparent that instead of making one fixed perceptual decision, given sufficient time, auditory perception switches back and forth between the alternatives—a phenomenon known as perceptual bi- or multi-stability. We propose a new model of auditory scene analysis at the core of which is a process that seeks to discover predictable patterns in the ongoing sound sequence. Representations of predictable fragments are created on the fly, and are maintained, strengthened or weakened on the basis of their predictive success, and conflict with other representations. Auditory perceptual organisation emerges spontaneously from the nature of the competition between these representations. We present detailed comparisons between the model simulations and data from an auditory streaming experiment, and show that the model accounts for many important findings, including: the emergence of, and switching between, alternative organisations; the influence of stimulus parameters on perceptual dominance, switching rate and perceptual phase durations; and the build-up of auditory streaming. The principal contribution of the model is to show that a two-stage process of pattern discovery and competition between incompatible patterns can account for both the contents (perceptual organisations) and the

  15. Neural basis of the time window for subjective motor-auditory integration

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    Koichi eToida

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Temporal contiguity between an action and corresponding auditory feedback is crucial to the perception of self-generated sound. However, the neural mechanisms underlying motor–auditory temporal integration are unclear. Here, we conducted four experiments with an oddball paradigm to examine the specific event-related potentials (ERPs elicited by delayed auditory feedback for a self-generated action. The first experiment confirmed that a pitch-deviant auditory stimulus elicits mismatch negativity (MMN and P300, both when it is generated passively and by the participant’s action. In our second and third experiments, we investigated the ERP components elicited by delayed auditory feedback of for a self-generated action. We found that delayed auditory feedback elicited an enhancement of P2 (enhanced-P2 and a N300 component, which were apparently different from the MMN and P300 components observed in the first experiment. We further investigated the sensitivity of the enhanced-P2 and N300 to delay length in our fourth experiment. Strikingly, the amplitude of the N300 increased as a function of the delay length. Additionally, the N300 amplitude was significantly correlated with the conscious detection of the delay (the 50% detection point was around 200 ms, and hence reduction in the feeling of authorship of the sound (the sense of agency. In contrast, the enhanced-P2 was most prominent in short-delay (≤ 200 ms conditions and diminished in long-delay conditions. Our results suggest that different neural mechanisms are employed for the processing of temporally-deviant and pitch-deviant auditory feedback. Additionally, the temporal window for subjective motor–auditory integration is likely about 200 ms, as indicated by these auditory ERP components.

  16. Neural plasticity expressed in central auditory structures with and without tinnitus

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    Larry E Roberts

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Sensory training therapies for tinnitus are based on the assumption that, notwithstanding neural changes related to tinnitus, auditory training can alter the response properties of neurons in auditory pathways. To address this question, we investigated whether brain changes induced by sensory training in tinnitus sufferers and measured by EEG are similar to those induced in age and hearing loss matched individuals without tinnitus trained on the same auditory task. Auditory training was given using a 5 kHz 40-Hz amplitude-modulated sound that was in the tinnitus frequency region of the tinnitus subjects and enabled extraction of the 40-Hz auditory steady-state response (ASSR and P2 transient response known to localize to primary and nonprimary auditory cortex, respectively. P2 amplitude increased with training equally in participants with tinnitus and in control subjects, suggesting normal remodeling of nonprimary auditory regions in tinnitus. However, training-induced changes in the ASSR differed between the tinnitus and control groups. In controls ASSR phase advanced toward the stimulus waveform by about ten degrees over training, in agreement with previous results obtained in young normal hearing individuals. However, ASSR phase did not change significantly with training in the tinnitus group, although some participants showed phase shifts resembling controls. On the other hand, ASSR amplitude increased with training in the tinnitus group, whereas in controls this response (which is difficult to remodel in young normal hearing subjects did not change with training. These results suggest that neural changes related to tinnitus altered how neural plasticity was expressed in the region of primary but not nonprimary auditory cortex. Auditory training did not reduce tinnitus loudness although a small effect on the tinnitus spectrum was detected.

  17. Subdividing the beat: auditory and motor contributions to synchronization

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Loehr, J.D.; Palmer, C.

    2009-01-01

    THE CURRENT STUDY EXAMINED HOW AUDITORY AND kinematic information influenced pianists' ability to synchronize musical sequences with a metronome. Pianists performed melodies in which quarter-note beats were subdivided by intervening eighth notes that resulted from auditory information (heard tones),

  18. The effect of background music in auditory health persuasion

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Elbert, Sarah; Dijkstra, Arie

    2013-01-01

    In auditory health persuasion, threatening information regarding health is communicated by voice only. One relevant context of auditory persuasion is the addition of background music. There are different mechanisms through which background music might influence persuasion, for example through mood

  19. Resource allocation models of auditory working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joseph, Sabine; Teki, Sundeep; Kumar, Sukhbinder; Husain, Masud; Griffiths, Timothy D

    2016-06-01

    Auditory working memory (WM) is the cognitive faculty that allows us to actively hold and manipulate sounds in mind over short periods of time. We develop here a particular perspective on WM for non-verbal, auditory objects as well as for time based on the consideration of possible parallels to visual WM. In vision, there has been a vigorous debate on whether WM capacity is limited to a fixed number of items or whether it represents a limited resource that can be allocated flexibly across items. Resource allocation models predict that the precision with which an item is represented decreases as a function of total number of items maintained in WM because a limited resource is shared among stored objects. We consider here auditory work on sequentially presented objects of different pitch as well as time intervals from the perspective of dynamic resource allocation. We consider whether the working memory resource might be determined by perceptual features such as pitch or timbre, or bound objects comprising multiple features, and we speculate on brain substrates for these behavioural models. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Auditory working memory. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Mosaic evolution of the mammalian auditory periphery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manley, Geoffrey A

    2013-01-01

    The classical mammalian auditory periphery, i.e., the type of middle ear and coiled cochlea seen in modern therian mammals, did not arise as one unit and did not arise in all mammals. It is also not the only kind of auditory periphery seen in modern mammals. This short review discusses the fact that the constituents of modern mammalian auditory peripheries arose at different times over an extremely long period of evolution (230 million years; Ma). It also attempts to answer questions as to the selective pressures that led to three-ossicle middle ears and the coiled cochlea. Mammalian middle ears arose de novo, without an intermediate, single-ossicle stage. This event was the result of changes in eating habits of ancestral animals, habits that were unrelated to hearing. The coiled cochlea arose only after 60 Ma of mammalian evolution, driven at least partly by a change in cochlear bone structure that improved impedance matching with the middle ear of that time. This change only occurred in the ancestors of therian mammals and not in other mammalian lineages. There is no single constellation of structural features of the auditory periphery that characterizes all mammals and not even all modern mammals.